Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1110.0290 · Physical Review C

Boundary conditions for star matter and other periodic fermionic systems

Francesca Gulminelli, T. Furuta, Olivier Juillet, C. Leclercq

Published Dec 21, 2011• 6 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Bulk fermionic matter, as can be notably found in supernova matter and neutrons stars, is subject to correlations of infinite range due to the antisymmetrization of the $N$-body wave function, which cannot be explicitly accounted for in a practical simulation. This problem is usually addressed in condensed matter physics by means of the so-called twist averaged boundary condition method. A different ansatz based on the localized Wannier representation has been proposed in the context of antisymmetrized molecular dynamics. In this paper we work out the formal relation between the two approaches. We show that, while the two coincide when working with exact eigenstates of the $N$-body Hamiltonian, differences appear in the case of variational approaches, which are currently used for the description of stellar matter. Some model applications with fermionic molecular dynamics are shown.

DOI
10.1103/physrevc.84.065806

Related papers

Fully antisymmetrised dynamics for bulk fermion systems

Klaas Vantournhout, Hans Feldmeier

The neutron star's crust and mantel are typical examples of non-uniform bulk systems with spacial localisations. When modelling such systems at low temperatures, as is the case in the crust, one has to work with antisymmetrised many-body states to get the correct fermion behaviour. Fermionic molecular dynamics, which works with an antisymmetrised product of localised wave packets, should be an appropriate choice. Implementing periodic boundary conditions into the fermionic molecular dynamics formalism would allow the study of the neutron star's crust as a bulk quantum system. Unfortunately, the antisymmetrisation is a non-local entanglement which reaches far out of the periodically repeated unit cell. In this proceeding, we give a brief overview how periodic boundary conditions and fermionic molecular dynamics can be combined without truncating the long-range many-body correlation induced by the antisymmetry of the many-body state.

arXiv:1111.3221•Journal of Physics Conference Series•Feb 13, 2012•2 citations

Towards a fully antisymmetrised dynamics of the neutron-star crust

Klaas Vantournhout, N. Jachowicz, J. Ryckebusch +1 more

We present a novel method to study the dynamics of bulk fermion systems such as the neutron-star crust.By introducing periodic boundary conditions into Fermionic Molecular Dynamics, it becomes possible to examine the long-range many-body correlations induced by antisymmetrisation in bulk fermion system.The presented technique treats the spins and the fermionic nature of the nucleons explicitly and permits investigating the dynamics of the system.Despite the increased complexity related to the periodic boundary conditions, the formalism remains computationally feasible.

•Jan 1, 2010•0 citations

Doubly periodic structure for the study of inhomogeneous bulk fermion matter with spatial localizations

Klaas Vantournhout, N. Jachowicz, J. Ryckebusch

We present a method that offers perspectives to perform fully antisymmetrized simulations for inhomogeneous bulk fermion matter. The technique bears resemblance to classical periodic boundary conditions, using localized single-particle states. Such localized states are an ideal tool to discuss phenomena where spatial localization plays an important role. The antisymmetrization is obtained introducing a doubly periodic structure in the many-body fermion wave functions. This results in circulant matrices for the evaluation of expectation values, leading to a computationally tractable formalism to study fully antisymmetrized bulk fermion matter. We show that the proposed technique is able to reproduce essential fermion features in an elegant and computationally advantageous manner.

arXiv:1005.2235•Physical Review C•Sep 20, 2011•5 citations

Time-dependent density functional theory with twist-averaged boundary conditions

B. Schuetrumpf, Witold Nazarewicz, P.‐G. Reinhard

Background: Time-dependent density functional theory is widely used to describe excitations of many-fermion systems. In its many applications, three-dimensional (3D) coordinate-space representation is used, and infinite-domain calculations are limited to a finite volume represented by a spatial box. For finite quantum systems (atoms, molecules, nuclei, hadrons), the commonly used periodic or reflecting boundary conditions introduce spurious quantization of the continuum states and artificial reflections from boundary; hence, an incorrect treatment of evaporated particles.Purpose: The finite-volume artifacts for finite systems can be practically cured by invoking an absorbing potential in a certain boundary region sufficiently far from the described system. However, such absorption cannot be applied in the calculations of infinite matter (crystal electrons, quantum fluids, neutron star crust), which suffer from unphysical effects stemming from a finite computational box used. Here, twist-averaged boundary conditions (TABC) have been used successfully to diminish the finite-volume effects. In this work, we extend TABC to time-dependent modes.Method: We use the 3D time-dependent density functional framework with the Skyrme energy density functional. The practical calculations are carried out for small- and large-amplitude electric dipole and quadrupole oscillations of $^{16}\mathrm{O}$. We apply and compare three kinds of boundary conditions: periodic, absorbing, and twist-averaged.Results: Calculations employing absorbing boundary conditions (ABC) and TABC are superior to those based on periodic boundary conditions. For low-energy excitations, TABC and ABC variants yield very similar results. With only four twist phases per spatial direction in TABC, one obtains an excellent reduction of spurious fluctuations. In the nonlinear regime, one has to deal with evaporated particles. In TABC, the floating nucleon gas remains in the box; the amount of nucleons in the gas is found to be roughly the same as the number of absorbed particles in ABC.Conclusion: We demonstrate that by using TABC, one can reduce finite-volume effects drastically without adding any additional parameters associated with absorption at large distances. Moreover, TABC are an obvious choice for time-dependent calculations for infinite systems. Since TABC calculations for different twists can be performed independently, the method is trivially adapted to parallel computing.

arXiv:1603.03743•Physical Review C•May 2, 2016•33 citations

Twist-averaged boundary conditions in continuum quantum Monte Carlo algorithms

Chao‐Ping Lin, Fenghua Zong, David M. Ceperley

We develop and test Quantum Monte Carlo algorithms that use a"twist" or a phase in the wave function for fermions in periodic boundary conditions. For metallic systems, averaging over the twist results in faster convergence to the thermodynamic limit than periodic boundary conditions for properties involving the kinetic energy and has the same computational complexity. We determine exponents for the rate of convergence to the thermodynamic limit for the components of the energy of coulomb systems. We show results with twist averaged variational Monte Carlo on free particles, the Stoner model and the electron gas using Hartree-Fock, Slater-Jastrow, and three-body and backflow wave function. We also discuss the use of twist averaging in the grand canonical ensemble, and numerical methods to accomplish the twist averaging.

arXiv:cond-mat/0101339•Physical review. E, Statistical physics, plasmas, fluids, and related interdisciplinary topics•Jun 18, 2001•371 citations

Fermionic condensation in ultracold atoms, nuclear matter and neutron stars

Luca Salasnich

We investigate the Bose-Einstein condensation of fermionic pairs in three different superfluid systems: ultracold and dilute atomic gases, bulk neutron matter, and neutron stars. In the case of dilute gases made of fermionic atoms the average distance between atoms is much larger than the effective radius of the inter-atomic potential. Here the condensation of fermionic pairs is analyzed as a function of the s-wave scattering length, which can be tuned in experiments by using the technique of Feshbach resonances from a small and negative value (corresponding to the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) regime of Cooper Fermi pairs) to a small and positive value (corresponding to the regime of the Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of molecular dimers), crossing the unitarity regime where the scattering length diverges. In the case of bulk neutron matter the s-wave scattering length of neutron-neutron potential is negative but fixed, and the condensate fraction of neutron-neutron pairs is studied as a function of the total neutron density. Our results clearly show a BCS-quasiunitary-BCS crossover by increasing the neutron density. Finally, in the case of neutron stars, where again the neutron-neutron scattering length is negative and fixed, we determine the condensate fraction as a function of the distance from the center of the neutron star, finding that the maximum condensate fraction appears in the crust of the neutron star.

arXiv:1308.0922•Journal of Physics Conference Series•Apr 9, 2014•3 citations
Bulk fermionic matter, as can be notably found in supernova matter and neutrons stars, is subject to correlations of infinite range due to the antisymmetrization of the NNN-body wave function, which cannot be explicitly accounted for in a practical simulation. This problem is usually addressed in condensed matter physics by means of the so-called twist averaged boundary condition method. A different ansatz based on the localized Wannier representation has been proposed in the context of antisymmetrized molecular dynamics. In this paper we work out the formal relation between the two approaches. We show that, while the two coincide when working with exact eigenstates of the NNN-body Hamiltonian, differences appear in the case of variational approaches, which are currently used for the description of stellar matter. Some model applications with fermionic molecular dynamics are shown.
The neutron star's crust and mantel are typical examples of non-uniform bulk systems with spacial localisations. When modelling such systems at low temperatures, as is the case in the crust, one has to work with antisymmetrised many-body states to get the correct fermion behaviour. Fermionic molecular dynamics, which works with an antisymmetrised product of localised wave packets, should be an appropriate choice. Implementing periodic boundary conditions into the fermionic molecular dynamics formalism would allow the study of the neutron star's crust as a bulk quantum system. Unfortunately, the antisymmetrisation is a non-local entanglement which reaches far out of the periodically repeated unit cell. In this proceeding, we give a brief overview how periodic boundary conditions and fermionic molecular dynamics can be combined without truncating the long-range many-body correlation induced by the antisymmetry of the many-body state.
We present a novel method to study the dynamics of bulk fermion systems such as the neutron-star crust.By introducing periodic boundary conditions into Fermionic Molecular Dynamics, it becomes possible to examine the long-range many-body correlations induced by antisymmetrisation in bulk fermion system.The presented technique treats the spins and the fermionic nature of the nucleons explicitly and permits investigating the dynamics of the system.Despite the increased complexity related to the periodic boundary conditions, the formalism remains computationally feasible.
We present a method that offers perspectives to perform fully antisymmetrized simulations for inhomogeneous bulk fermion matter. The technique bears resemblance to classical periodic boundary conditions, using localized single-particle states. Such localized states are an ideal tool to discuss phenomena where spatial localization plays an important role. The antisymmetrization is obtained introducing a doubly periodic structure in the many-body fermion wave functions. This results in circulant matrices for the evaluation of expectation values, leading to a computationally tractable formalism to study fully antisymmetrized bulk fermion matter. We show that the proposed technique is able to reproduce essential fermion features in an elegant and computationally advantageous manner.
Background: Time-dependent density functional theory is widely used to describe excitations of many-fermion systems. In its many applications, three-dimensional (3D) coordinate-space representation is used, and infinite-domain calculations are limited to a finite volume represented by a spatial box. For finite quantum systems (atoms, molecules, nuclei, hadrons), the commonly used periodic or reflecting boundary conditions introduce spurious quantization of the continuum states and artificial reflections from boundary; hence, an incorrect treatment of evaporated particles.Purpose: The finite-volume artifacts for finite systems can be practically cured by invoking an absorbing potential in a certain boundary region sufficiently far from the described system. However, such absorption cannot be applied in the calculations of infinite matter (crystal electrons, quantum fluids, neutron star crust), which suffer from unphysical effects stemming from a finite computational box used. Here, twist-averaged boundary conditions (TABC) have been used successfully to diminish the finite-volume effects. In this work, we extend TABC to time-dependent modes.Method: We use the 3D time-dependent density functional framework with the Skyrme energy density functional. The practical calculations are carried out for small- and large-amplitude electric dipole and quadrupole oscillations of 16O^{16}\mathrm{O}16O. We apply and compare three kinds of boundary conditions: periodic, absorbing, and twist-averaged.Results: Calculations employing absorbing boundary conditions (ABC) and TABC are superior to those based on periodic boundary conditions. For low-energy excitations, TABC and ABC variants yield very similar results. With only four twist phases per spatial direction in TABC, one obtains an excellent reduction of spurious fluctuations. In the nonlinear regime, one has to deal with evaporated particles. In TABC, the floating nucleon gas remains in the box; the amount of nucleons in the gas is found to be roughly the same as the number of absorbed particles in ABC.Conclusion: We demonstrate that by using TABC, one can reduce finite-volume effects drastically without adding any additional parameters associated with absorption at large distances. Moreover, TABC are an obvious choice for time-dependent calculations for infinite systems. Since TABC calculations for different twists can be performed independently, the method is trivially adapted to parallel computing.
We develop and test Quantum Monte Carlo algorithms that use a"twist" or a phase in the wave function for fermions in periodic boundary conditions. For metallic systems, averaging over the twist results in faster convergence to the thermodynamic limit than periodic boundary conditions for properties involving the kinetic energy and has the same computational complexity. We determine exponents for the rate of convergence to the thermodynamic limit for the components of the energy of coulomb systems. We show results with twist averaged variational Monte Carlo on free particles, the Stoner model and the electron gas using Hartree-Fock, Slater-Jastrow, and three-body and backflow wave function. We also discuss the use of twist averaging in the grand canonical ensemble, and numerical methods to accomplish the twist averaging.
We investigate the Bose-Einstein condensation of fermionic pairs in three different superfluid systems: ultracold and dilute atomic gases, bulk neutron matter, and neutron stars. In the case of dilute gases made of fermionic atoms the average distance between atoms is much larger than the effective radius of the inter-atomic potential. Here the condensation of fermionic pairs is analyzed as a function of the s-wave scattering length, which can be tuned in experiments by using the technique of Feshbach resonances from a small and negative value (corresponding to the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) regime of Cooper Fermi pairs) to a small and positive value (corresponding to the regime of the Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of molecular dimers), crossing the unitarity regime where the scattering length diverges. In the case of bulk neutron matter the s-wave scattering length of neutron-neutron potential is negative but fixed, and the condensate fraction of neutron-neutron pairs is studied as a function of the total neutron density. Our results clearly show a BCS-quasiunitary-BCS crossover by increasing the neutron density. Finally, in the case of neutron stars, where again the neutron-neutron scattering length is negative and fixed, we determine the condensate fraction as a function of the distance from the center of the neutron star, finding that the maximum condensate fraction appears in the crust of the neutron star.