  We propose a conceptual model of a toroidal flux qubit, which consists of a
quantized toroidal magnetic flux coupled to a charged particle on a quantum
ring through field-free interaction. Scaling the system to two or more flux
qubits results in emergent field-free coupling between them. We show that the
topological and nonlocal aspects of this system can have profound applications
in quantum information. We illustrate it with examples of nonlocal operations
on these flux qubits which are protected from environmental noise, including
creating entanglement and ``teleporting'' excitation energy between the flux
qubits.

Quantum Physics