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arXiv:1003.3696 · Physical Review E

Reptation quantum Monte Carlo algorithm for lattice Hamiltonians with a directed-update scheme

Giuseppe Carleo, Federico Becca, Saverio Moroni, Stefano Baroni A

Published Oct 25, 2010• 18 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We provide an extension to lattice systems of the reptation quantum Monte Carlo algorithm, originally devised for continuous Hamiltonians. For systems affected by the sign problem, a method to systematically improve upon the so-called fixed-node approximation is also proposed. The generality of the method, which also takes advantage of a canonical worm algorithm scheme to measure off-diagonal observables, makes it applicable to a vast variety of quantum systems and eases the study of their ground-state and excited-state properties. As a case study, we investigate the quantum dynamics of the one-dimensional Heisenberg model and we provide accurate estimates of the ground-state energy of the two-dimensional fermionic Hubbard model.

DOI
10.1103/physreve.82.046710

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We provide an extension to lattice systems of the reptation quantum Monte Carlo algorithm, originally devised for continuous Hamiltonians. For systems affected by the sign problem, a method to systematically improve upon the so-called fixed-node approximation is also proposed. The generality of the method, which also takes advantage of a canonical worm algorithm scheme to measure off-diagonal observables, makes it applicable to a vast variety of quantum systems and eases the study of their ground-state and excited-state properties. As a case study, we investigate the quantum dynamics of the one-dimensional Heisenberg model and we provide accurate estimates of the ground-state energy of the two-dimensional fermionic Hubbard model.
Abstract The reptation quantum Monte Carlo (RQMC) algorithm of Baroni and Moroni (Phys Rev Lett, 1999, 82, 4745) is a recent and promising development. In this approach, one generates a large number of reptiles: sets of electron configurations arising from consecutive drift‐diffusion moves. Within the fixed‐node approximation, one extracts estimates of the exact energy from reptiles' heads and tails (their first and last configurations of electrons, respectively), and estimates expectation values for operators that do not commute with the Hamiltonian, from their middle configurations. An advantage over conceptually equivalent algorithms is that each estimate is free from population control bias. The time‐step bias, however, may accumulate, adversely affecting one's ability to accurately estimate physical properties of atoms and molecules. For this purpose we propose an alternative algorithm, “head‐tail adjusted” reptation quantum Monte Carlo, engineered to remedy this deficiency, while still simulating the target distribution for RQMC. The effectiveness of our approach is demonstrated by an application to ground‐state LiH. We estimate the fixed‐node energy with improved reliability, without adversely affecting the quality of other, nonenergy‐related properties' estimates. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2009
We give a new prescription for performing random walks in configuration space for lattice fermion problems. Imposing a suitable condition for the wave function on nodal boundaries in configuration space enables us to devise a generalization of the fixed-node quantum Monte Carlo method, as it has been developed for continuum problems. It does not suffer from the sign problem and provides upper bounds for the energy of different candidates for the ground state. We present new results for the Hubbard model off half filling as a demonstration of the method.
We describe and discuss a recently proposed quantum Monte Carlo algorithm to compute the ground-state properties of various systems of interacting fermions. In this method, the ground state is projected from an initial wave function by a branching random walk in an overcomplete basis of Slater determinants. By constraining the determinants according to a trial wave function |${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\psi}}}_{\mathrm{T}}$〉, we remove the exponential decay of signal-to-noise ratio characteristic of the sign problem. The method is variational and is exact if |${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\psi}}}_{\mathrm{T}}$〉 is exact. We illustrate the method by describing in detail its implementation for the two-dimensional one-band Hubbard model. We show results for lattice sizes up to 16\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}16 and for various electron fillings and interaction strengths. With simple single-determinant wave functions as |${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\psi}}}_{\mathrm{T}}$〉, the method yields accurate (often to within a few percent) estimates of the ground-state energy as well as correlation functions, such as those for electron pairing. We conclude by discussing possible extensions of the algorithm.
The objective of pure-sampling quantum Monte Carlo is to calculate physical properties that are independent of the importance sampling function being employed in the calculation, save for the mismatch of its nodal hypersurface with that of the exact wave function. To achieve this objective, we describe a pure-sampling algorithm that combines features of forward-walking methods of pure-sampling and reptation quantum Monte Carlo. The importance sampling is performed by using a single-determinant basis set composed of Slater-type orbitals. We implement our algorithm by systematically increasing an algorithmic parameter until the properties sampled from the electron distributions converge to statistically equivalent values, extrapolated in the limit of zero time-step. In doing so, we are able to unambiguously determine the values for the ground-state fixed-node energies and one-electron properties of various molecules. These quantities are free from importance sampling bias, population control bias, time-step bias, extrapolation-model bias, and the finite-field approximation. We applied our algorithm to the ground-states of lithium hydride, water and ethylene molecules, and found excellent agreement with the accepted literature values for the energy and a variety of other properties for those systems. Some of our one-electron properties of ethylene had not been calculated before at any level of theory. In a detailed comparison, we found reptation quantum Monte Carlo, our closest competitor, to be less efficient by at least a factor of two. It requires different sets of time-steps to accurately determine the ground-state energy and one-electron properties, whereas our algorithm can achieve the same objective by using a single set of time-step values.
Electronic structure quantum Monte Carlo Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) is an advanced simulation methodology for studies of manybody quantum systems. The QMC approaches combine analytical insights with stochastic computational techniques for efficient solution of several classes of important many-body problems such as the stationary Schrödinger equation. QMC methods of various flavors have been applied to a great variety of systems spanning continuous and lattice quantum models, molecular and condensed systems, BEC-BCS ultracold condensates, nuclei, etc. In this review, we focus on the electronic structure QMC, i.e., methods relevant for systems described by the electron-ion Hamiltonians. Some of the key QMC achievements include direct treatment of electron correlation, accuracy in predicting energy differences and favorable scaling in the system size. Calculations of atoms, molecules, clusters and solids have demonstrated QMC applicability to real systems with hundreds of electrons while providing 90-95% of the correlation energy and energy differences typically within a few percent of experiments. Advances in accuracy beyond these limits are hampered by the so-called fixed-node approximation which is used to circumvent the notorious fermion sign problem. Many-body nodes of fermion states and their properties have therefore become one of the important topics for further progress in predictive power and efficiency of QMC calculations. Some of our recent results on the wave function nodes and related nodal domain topologies will be briefly reviewed. This includes analysis of few-electron systems and descriptions of exact and approximate nodes using transformations and projections of the highly-dimensional nodal hypersurfaces into the 3D space. Studies of fermion nodes offer new insights into topological properties of eigenstates such as explicit demonstrations that generic fermionic ground states exhibit the minimal number of two nodal domains. Recently proposed trial wave functions based on Pfaffians with pairing orbitals are presented and their nodal properties are tested in calculations of first row atoms and molecules. Finally, backflow "dressed" coordinates are introduced as another possibility for capturing correlation effects and for decreasing the fixed-node bias.