An efficient scheme is introduced for a fast and smooth convergence to the thermodynamic limit of electronic properties obtained with finite-size calculations on correlated Hamiltonians. This is obtained by modifying the energy levels of the free electron part of the Hamiltonian in a way consistent with the corresponding one-particle density of states in the thermodynamic limit. After this modification, free electron ground state energies, exact in the thermodynamic limit, are obtained with finite-size calculations and for all the particular fillings that satisfy the so called ``closed-shell condition.'' For those fillings the auxiliary field quantum Monte Carlo technique is particularly efficient and, by combining it with the present method, we provide strong numerical evidence that phase separation occurs in the low doping region and moderate $U\ensuremath{\lesssim}4t$ regime of this model.
An efficient scheme is introduced for a fast and smooth convergence to the thermodynamic limit of electronic properties obtained with finite-size calculations on correlated Hamiltonians. This is obtained by modifying the energy levels of the free electron part of the Hamiltonian in a way consistent with the corresponding one-particle density of states in the thermodynamic limit. After this modification, free electron ground state energies, exact in the thermodynamic limit, are obtained with finite-size calculations and for all the particular fillings that satisfy the so called ``closed-shell condition.'' For those fillings the auxiliary field quantum Monte Carlo technique is particularly efficient and, by combining it with the present method, we provide strong numerical evidence that phase separation occurs in the low doping region and moderate U\ensuremath≲4t regime of this model.
We develop a general numerical method to study the zero-temperature properties of strongly correlated electron models on large lattices. The technique, which resembles Green's-function Monte Carlo, projects the ground-state component from a trial wave function with no approximations. We use this method to determine the phase diagram of the two-dimensional $t\ensuremath{-}J$ model, using the Maxwell construction to investigate electronic phase separation. The shell effects of fermions on finite-sized periodic lattices are minimized by keeping the number of electrons fixed at a closed-shell configuration and varying the size of the lattice. Results obtained for various electron numbers corresponding to different closed shells indicate that the finite-size effects in our calculation are small. For any value of interaction strength, we find that there is always a value of the electron density above which the system can lower its energy by forming a two-component phase separated state. Our results are compared with other calculations on the $t\ensuremath{-}J$ model. We find that the most accurate results are consistent with phase separation at all interaction strengths.
Ground-state properties of the Hubbard model on a two-dimensional square lattice are studied by the auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo method. Accurate results for energy, double occupancy, effective hopping, magnetization, and momentum distribution are calculated for interaction strengths of U/t from 2 to 8, for a range of densities including half-filling and n=0.3,0.5,0.6,0.75, and 0.875. At half-filling, the results are numerically exact. Away from half-filling, the constrained path Monte Carlo method is employed to control the sign problem. Our results are obtained with several advances in the computational algorithm, which are described in detail. We discuss the advantages of generalized Hartree-Fock trial wave functions and its connection to pairing wave functions, as well as the interplay with different forms of Hubbard-Stratonovich decompositions. We study the use of different twist angle sets when applying the twist averaged boundary conditions. We propose the use of quasirandom sequences, which improves the convergence to the thermodynamic limit over pseudorandom and other sequences. With it and a careful finite size scaling analysis, we are able to obtain accurate values of ground-state properties in the thermodynamic limit. Detailed results for finite-sized systems up to $16\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}16$ are also provided for benchmark purposes.
Ab initio quantum Monte Carlo methods, in principle, allow for the calculation of exact properties of correlated many-electron systems but are, in general, limited to the simulation of a finite number of electrons N under periodic boundary conditions. Therefore, an accurate theory of finite-size effects is indispensable to bridge the gap to realistic applications in the thermodynamic limit. In this work, we revisit the uniform electron gas at finite temperature, as it is relevant to contemporary research, e.g., in the field of warm dense matter. In particular, we present a new scheme to eliminate finite-size effects both in the static structure factor S(q) and in the interaction energy v, which is based on the density response formalism. We demonstrate that this method often allows us to obtain v in the thermodynamic limit within a relative accuracy of ∼0.2% from as few as N = 4 electrons without any empirical choices or knowledge of results for other values of N. Finally, we evaluate the applicability of our method upon increasing the density parameter rs and decreasing the temperature T.
Fixed-node Green's-function Monte Carlo calculations have been performed for very large 16\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}16 two-dimensional Hubbard lattices, large interaction strengths U=10,20, and 40, and many $(15\ensuremath{\sim}20)$ densities between empty and half-filling. The nodes were fixed by a simple Slater-Gutzwiller trial wave function. For each value of U we obtained a sequence of ground-state energies which is consistent with the possibility of a phase separation close to half-filling, with a hole density in the hole-rich phase which is a decreasing function of U. The energies suffer, however, from a fixed-node bias: more accurate nodes are needed to confirm this picture. Our extensive numerical results and their test against size, shell, shape, and boundary-condition effects also suggest that phase separation is quite a delicate issue, on which simulations based on smaller lattices than considered here are unlikely to give reliable predictions.
Fixed-node Green's-function Monte Carlo calculations have been performed for very large 16x16 two-dimensional Hubbard lattices, large interaction strengths U=10,20, and 40, and many (15 similar to 20) densities between empty and half-filling. The nodes were fixed by a simple Slater-Gutzwiller trial wave function. For each value of U we obtained a sequence of ground-state energies which is consistent with the possibility of a phase separation close to half-filling, with a hole density in the hole-rich phase which is a decreasing function of U. The energies suffer, however, from a fixed-node bias: more accurate nodes are needed to confirm this picture. Our extensive numerical results and their test against size, shell, shape, and boundary-condition effects also suggest that phase separation is quite a delicate issue, on which simulations based on smaller lattices than considered here are unlikely to give reliable predictions. RI Capone, Massimo/A-7762-2008; Guidoni, Leonardo/G-3759-2011
When electron-electron correlations are important, it is often necessary to use exact numerical methods, such as Lanczos diagonalization, to study the full many-body Hamiltonian. Unfortunately, such exact diagonalization methods are restricted to small system sizes. We show that if the Hubbard U term is replaced by a ``periodic Hubbard" term, the full many body Hamiltonian may be numerically exactly solved, even for very large systems (even $>$100 sites), though only for low fillings. However, for half-filled systems and large U this approach is not only no longer exact, it no longer improves extrapolation to larger systems. We discuss how generalized ``randomized variable averaging'' (RVA) or ``phase randomization'' schemes can be reliably employed to improve extrapolation to large system sizes in this regime. This general approach can be combined with any many-body method and is thus of broad interest and applicability.