  A decade ago Kitaev's toric code model established the new paradigm of
topological quantum computation. Due to remarkable theoretical and experimental
progress, the quantum simulation of such complex many-body systems is now
within the realms of possibility. Here we consider the question, to which
extent the ground states of small toric code systems differ from LU-equivalent
graph states. We argue that simplistic (though experimentally attractive)
setups obliterate the differences between the toric code and equivalent graph
states; hence we search for the smallest setups on the square- and triangular
lattice, such that the quasi-locality of the toric code hamiltonian becomes a
distinctive feature. To this end, a purely geometric procedure to transform a
given toric code setup into an LC-equivalent graph state is derived. In
combination with an algorithmic computation of LC-equivalent graph states, we
find the smallest non-trivial setup on the square lattice to contain 5
plaquettes and 16 qubits; on the triangular lattice the number of plaquettes
and qubits is reduced to 4 and 9, respectively.
