  Given that approximate quantum error-correcting (AQEC) codes have a
potentially better performance than perfect quantum error correction codes, it
is pertinent to quantify their performance. While quantum weight enumerators
establish some of the best upper bounds on the minimum distance of quantum
error-correcting codes, these bounds do not directly apply to AQEC codes.
Herein, we introduce quantum weight enumerators for amplitude damping (AD)
errors and work within the framework of approximate quantum error correction.
In particular, we introduce an auxiliary exact weight enumerator that is
intrinsic to a code space and moreover, we establish a linear relationship
between the quantum weight enumerators for AD errors and this auxiliary exact
weight enumerator. This allows us to establish a linear program that is
infeasible only when AQEC AD codes with corresponding parameters do not exist.
To illustrate our linear program, we numerically rule out the existence of
three-qubit AD codes that are capable of correcting an arbitrary AD error.
