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arXiv:1201.3975 · Physical Review B

Variational Monte Carlo with the multiscale entanglement renormalization ansatz

Andrew J. Ferris, Guifré Vidal

Published Apr 30, 2012• 19 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Monte Carlo sampling techniques have been proposed as a strategy to reduce the computational cost of contractions in tensor network approaches to solving many-body systems. Here, we put forward a variational Monte Carlo approach for the multiscale entanglement renormalization ansatz (MERA), which is a unitary tensor network. Two major adjustments are required compared to previous proposals with nonunitary tensor networks. First, instead of sampling over configurations of the original lattice, made of $L$ sites, we sample over configurations of an effective lattice, which is made of just $\mathrm{ln}(L)$ sites. Second, the optimization of unitary tensors must account for their unitary character while being robust to statistical noise, which we accomplish with a modified steepest descent method within the set of unitary tensors. We demonstrate the performance of the variational Monte Carlo MERA approach in the relatively simple context of a finite quantum spin chain at criticality, and discuss future, more challenging applications, including two-dimensional systems.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.85.165147

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Monte Carlo sampling techniques have been proposed as a strategy to reduce the computational cost of contractions in tensor network approaches to solving many-body systems. Here, we put forward a variational Monte Carlo approach for the multiscale entanglement renormalization ansatz (MERA), which is a unitary tensor network. Two major adjustments are required compared to previous proposals with nonunitary tensor networks. First, instead of sampling over configurations of the original lattice, made of LLL sites, we sample over configurations of an effective lattice, which is made of just ln(L)\mathrm{ln}(L)ln(L) sites. Second, the optimization of unitary tensors must account for their unitary character while being robust to statistical noise, which we accomplish with a modified steepest descent method within the set of unitary tensors. We demonstrate the performance of the variational Monte Carlo MERA approach in the relatively simple context of a finite quantum spin chain at criticality, and discuss future, more challenging applications, including two-dimensional systems.
Tensor network states are powerful variational Ans\"atze for many-body ground states of quantum lattice models. The use of Monte Carlo sampling techniques in tensor network approaches significantly reduces the cost of tensor contractions, potentially leading to a substantial increase in computational efficiency. Previous proposals are based on a Markov chain Monte Carlo scheme generated by locally updating configurations and, as such, must deal with equilibration and autocorrelation times, which result in a reduction of efficiency. Here we propose perfect sampling schemes, with vanishing equilibration and autocorrelation times, for unitary tensor networks, namely, tensor networks based on efficiently contractible, unitary quantum circuits, such as unitary versions of the matrix product state (MPS) and tree tensor network (TTN), and the multiscale entanglement renormalization Ansatz (MERA). Configurations are directly sampled according to their probabilities in the wave function, without resorting to a Markov chain process. We consider both complete sampling, involving all the relevant sites of the system, and incomplete sampling, which only involves a subset of those sites and which can result in a dramatic (basis-dependent) reduction of sampling error.
Strongly correlated quantum matter, such as the insufficiently understood high- temperature superconductors, are difficult to simulate numerically. The multiscale entanglement renormalization ansatz (MERA) is a hierarchical class of tensor networks that efficiently captures the typical ground-state entanglement structures. Motivated by recent advances to employ MERA in quantum-classical algorithms, the authors take a fresh look here, analyzing new variations of the approach including tensor Trotterization and importance sampling. Optimal contraction sequences and algorithmic phase diagrams show that these quantum-inspired methods can substantially reduce computational costs.
In this thesis, we use the new numerical method multiscale entanglement renormalization ansatz (MERA) to study the one dimensional spin system. This method, MERA, utilizes a network of tensors to represent quantum many-body systems on a lattice. Other examples of tensor network state are matrix product states (MPSs) for 1D systems, tree tensor networks (TTNs) for systems with a tree shape, and projected entangled-pair states (PEPSs) for 2D systems and be- yond. The three structures dier in the graph that denes how the tensors are interconnected into a network: The graphs for MPSs, TTNs, and 2D PEPSs are, respectively, a chain, a tree, and a 2D lattice. Importantly, from these tensor networks the expectation value of local observables can be computed eciently. Developing algorithms to simulate quantum many-body systems is important for understanding and studying the physical principles. And these may become powerful tools for the analysis of quantum computation and quantum information theory. But in general ecient simulation is dicult, due to the fundamental quantum physical laws. The main method we have studied and worked on is multiscale entangle- ment renormalization ansatz (MERA) which is a variational ansatz for many- body states. MERA is a tree tensor network for 1D, 2D systems and beyond. We have developed code of ternary-MERA to compute the ground state energy, expected values of local observables, and correlators for 1D lattice systems. In a nutshell, MERA is an algorithm for entanglement renormalization which is a numerical technique based on locally reorganizing the Hilbert space of a quantum many-body system with the aim to reduce the amount of entanglement in its wave function. We use this method to study 1D Ising model, XXZ model, and J1 - J2 model, and then comparing the numerical results with exact diagonalization (ED) and density matrix renormalization group (DMRG).
We show how to build a multiscale entanglement renormalization ansatz (MERA) representation of the ground state of a many-body Hamiltonian H by applying the recently proposed tensor network renormalization [G. Evenbly and G. Vidal, Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 180405 (2015)] to the Euclidean time evolution operator e(-βH) for infinite β. This approach bypasses the costly energy minimization of previous MERA algorithms and, when applied to finite inverse temperature β, produces a MERA representation of a thermal Gibbs state. Our construction endows tensor network renormalization with a renormalization group flow in the space of wave functions and Hamiltonians (and not merely in the more abstract space of tensors) and extends the MERA formalism to classical statistical systems.
We describe a numerical many-body technique that is based on both tensor networks and quantum Monte Carlo. The variational ansatz is a tensor network that can harvest volume-law entanglement. It is constructed from a tensor train to which one applies a set of non-local operators that force several indices of the tensor train to represent the same physical index, hence its name -- replica tensor train (RTT). From the tensor network toolbox, it inherits the possibility to make linear combinations of these states and apply a certain class of operators. We can therefore find the ground-state of a local Hamiltonian in a purely algebraic way as in standard tensor network algorithms -- i.e. without using gradient descent methods. On the other hand, the volume-law structure forbids calculating physical observables directly. In much the same way as on a quantum computer where one can prepare a state but can only sample it at the end, here we have to use Markov Chain Monte Carlo to compute the observables. We further show that the approach can be extended to build Krylov-subspace ground-state methods within the variational manifold. We illustrate the different algorithms on a two-dimensional spin model with a transverse magnetic field, which can be solved by this approach at low computational cost.
In this paper, we review the properties of homogeneous multiscale entanglement renormalization ansatz (MERA) to describe quantum critical systems. We discuss in more detail our results for one-dimensional (1D) systems (the Ising and Heisenberg models) and present new data for the 2D Ising model. Together with the results for the critical exponents, we provide a detailed description of the numerical algorithm and a discussion of new optimization strategies. The relation between the critical properties of the system and the tensor structure of the MERA is expressed using the formalism of quantum channels, which we review and extend.