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arXiv:1309.7174

Chasing infinity with matrix product states by embracing divergences

Gregory M. Crosswhite

Published Sep 27, 2013• 0 citations
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Abstract

In this paper, we present a formalism for representing infinite systems in quantum mechanics by employing a strategy that embraces divergences rather than avoiding them. We do this by representing physical quantities such as inner products, expectations, etc., as maps from natural numbers to complex numbers which contain information about how these quantities diverge, and in particular whether they scale linearly, quadratically, exponentially, etc. with the size of the system. We build our formalism on a variant of matrix product states, as this class of states has a structure that naturally provides a way to obtain the scaling function. We show that the states in our formalism form a module over the ring of functions that are made up of sums of exponentials times polynomials and delta functions. We analyze properties of this formalism and show how it works for selected systems. Finally, we discuss how our formalism relates to other work.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1309.7174

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In this paper, we present a formalism for representing infinite systems in quantum mechanics by employing a strategy that embraces divergences rather than avoiding them. We do this by representing physical quantities such as inner products, expectations, etc., as maps from natural numbers to complex numbers which contain information about how these quantities diverge, and in particular whether they scale linearly, quadratically, exponentially, etc. with the size of the system. We build our formalism on a variant of matrix product states, as this class of states has a structure that naturally provides a way to obtain the scaling function. We show that the states in our formalism form a module over the ring of functions that are made up of sums of exponentials times polynomials and delta functions. We analyze properties of this formalism and show how it works for selected systems. Finally, we discuss how our formalism relates to other work.
In this paper, we present a formalism for representing infinite systems in quantum mechanics by employing a strategy that embraces divergences rather than avoiding them. We do this by representing physical quantities such as inner products, expectations, etc, as maps from natural numbers to complex numbers which contain information about how these quantities diverge, and in particular whether they scale linearly, quadratically, exponentially, etc with the size of the system. We build our formalism on a variant of matrix product states, as this class of states has a structure that naturally provides a way to obtain the scaling function. We show that the states in our formalism form a module over the ring of functions that are made up of sums of exponentials times polynomials and delta functions. We analyze properties of this formalism and show how it works for selected systems. Finally, we discuss how our formalism relates to other work.
This paper presents a generalization of quantum mechanics from conventional Hilbert space formalism to Banach space one. We construct quantum theory starting with any complex Banach space beyond a complex Hilbert space, through using a basic fact that a complex Banach space always admits a semi-inner product. Precisely, in a complex Banach space X\mathbb{X}X with a given semi-inner product, a pure state is defined by Lumer \cite{Lumer1961} to be a bounded linear functional on the space of bounded operators determined by a normalized element of X\mathbb{X}X under the semi-inner product, and then the state space S(X)\mathcal{S} (\mathbb{X})S(X) of the system is the weakly closed convex set spanned by all pure states. Based on Lumer's notion of the state, we associate a quantum system with a complex Banach space X\mathbb{X}X equipped with a fixed semi-inner product, and then define a physical event at a quantum state ω∈S(X)ω\in \mathcal{S}(\mathbb{X})ω∈S(X) to be a projection PPP (bounded operator such that P2=PP^2 =PP2=P) in X\mathbb{X}X satisfying the positivity condition 0≤ω(P)≤1,0 \le ω(P) \le 1,0≤ω(P)≤1, and a physical quantity at a quantum state ωωω to be a spectral operator of scalar type with real spectrum so that the associated spectral projections are all physical events at ω.ω.ω. The Born formula for measurement of a physical quantity is the natural pairing of operators with linear functionals satisfying the probability conservation law. A time evolution of the system is governed by a one-parameter group of invertible spectral operators determined by a scalar type operator with the real spectrum, which satisfies the Schrödinger equation. Our formulation is just a generalization of the Dirac-von Neumann formalism of quantum mechanics to the Banach space setting. We include some examples for illustration.
Matrix Product State (MPS) wavefunctions have many applications in quantum information and condensed matter physics. One application is to represent states in the thermodynamic limit directly, using a small set of position independent matrices. For this infinite MPS ansatz to be useful it is necessary to be able to calculate expectation values, and we show here that a large class of observables, including operators transforming under lattice translations as eigenstates of arbitrary momentum kkk, can be represented in the Schur form of a lower or upper triangular matrix and we present an algorithm for evaluating such expectation values in the asymptotic limit. The sum or the product of two such Schur operators is also a Schur operator, and is easily constructed to give a simple method of constructing arbitrary polynomial combinations of operators. Some simple examples are the variance ⟨(H−E)2⟩\langle (H-E)^2\rangle⟨(H−E)2⟩ of an infinite MPS, which gives a simple method of evaluating the accuracy of a numerical approximation to a eigenstate, or a vertex operator ⟨ck1†ck2†ck4ck3⟩\langle c^\dagger_{k_1} c^\dagger_{k_2} c_{k_4} c_{k_3}\rangle⟨ck1​†​ck2​†​ck4​​ck3​​⟩. This approach is a step towards improved algorithms for the calculation of dynamical properties and excited states.
We propose a formalism to study dynamical properties of a quantum many-body system in the thermodynamic limit by studying a finite system with ``infinite boundary conditions'' where both finite-size effects and boundary effects have been eliminated. For one-dimensional systems, infinite boundary conditions are obtained by attaching two boundary sites to a finite system, where each of these two sites effectively represents a semi-infinite extension of the system. One can then use standard finite-size matrix product state techniques to study a region of the system while avoiding many of the complications normally associated with finite-size calculations such as boundary Friedel oscillations. We illustrate the technique with an example of time evolution of a local perturbation applied to an infinite (translationally invariant) ground state, and use this to calculate the spectral function of the S=1S=1S=1 Heisenberg spin chain. This approach is more efficient and more accurate than conventional simulations based on finite-size matrix product state and density-matrix renormalization-group approaches.
An effective formalism for quantum constrained systems is presented which allows manageable derivations of solutions and observables, including a treatment of physical reality conditions without requiring full knowledge of the physical inner product. Instead of a state equation from a constraint operator, an infinite system of constraint functions on the quantum phase space of expectation values and moments of states is used. The examples of linear constraints as well as the free non-relativistic particle in parametrized form illustrate how standard problems of constrained systems can be dealt with in this framework.
Matrix product states (MPS) are a standard tensor-network representation for ground states of one-dimensional quantum many-body systems, and they underpin widely used simulation tools such as DMRG. However, while quantum model checking has been developed mainly for quantum programs and communication protocols (with properties expressed along a time axis), there is still no comparable framework for systematically verifying \emph{spatial} and \emph{size-dependent} properties of physical many-body states, where the key parameter is the system size. This paper takes a step toward bridging the gap. We propose \emph{Linear Chain Logic} (LCL), a spatial logic designed to specify physically meaningful properties of periodic MPS families as the system size grows, such as nontriviality on rings and large-size asymptotic patterns. Our approach builds on a simple but powerful connection: every periodic MPS naturally induces a completely positive map (a quantum operation) on its virtual space, so many quantitative features of the MPS can be analysed through the repeated application of the operation. Using this perspective, we derive an effective procedure to compute the inner products of an MPS at a given size and to support richer LCL specifications, without relying on brute-force state expansion. We then develop approximate model-checking algorithms that combine sound bounding with asymptotic structural analysis, enabling scalable reasoning about large system sizes. Experiments on representative MPS families illustrate that our method can automatically verify nontriviality and detect asymptotic spatial regimes in a way that complements traditional numerical techniques.