The dynamics of many-body fermionic systems are important in problems ranging from catalytic reactions at electrochemical surfaces to transport through nanojunctions and offer a prime target for quantum computing applications. Here, we derive the set of conditions under which fermionic operators can be exactly replaced by bosonic operators that render the problem amenable to a large toolbox of dynamical methods while still capturing the correct dynamics of n-body operators. Importantly, our analysis offers a simple guide on how one can exploit these simple maps to calculate nonequilibrium and equilibrium single- and multi-time correlation functions essential in describing transport and spectroscopy. We use this to rigorously analyze and delineate the applicability of simple yet effective Cartesian maps that have been shown to correctly capture the correct fermionic dynamics in select models of nanoscopic transport. We illustrate our analytical results with exact simulations of the resonant level model. Our work provides new insights as to when one can leverage the simplicity of bosonic maps to simulate the dynamics of many-electron systems, especially those where an atomistic representation of nuclear interactions becomes essential.
The dynamics of many-body fermionic systems are important in problems ranging from catalytic reactions at electrochemical surfaces to transport through nanojunctions and offer a prime target for quantum computing applications. Here, we derive the set of conditions under which fermionic operators can be exactly replaced by bosonic operators that render the problem amenable to a large toolbox of dynamical methods while still capturing the correct dynamics of n-body operators. Importantly, our analysis offers a simple guide on how one can exploit these simple maps to calculate nonequilibrium and equilibrium single- and multi-time correlation functions essential in describing transport and spectroscopy. We use this to rigorously analyze and delineate the applicability of simple yet effective Cartesian maps that have been shown to correctly capture the correct fermionic dynamics in select models of nanoscopic transport. We illustrate our analytical results with exact simulations of the resonant level model. Our work provides new insights as to when one can leverage the simplicity of bosonic maps to simulate the dynamics of many-electron systems, especially those where an atomistic representation of nuclear interactions becomes essential.
We derive a rigorous, quantum mechanical map of fermionic creation and annihilation operators to continuous Cartesian variables that exactly reproduces the matrix structure of the many-fermion problem. We show how our scheme can be used to map a general many-fermion Hamiltonian and then consider two specific models that encode the fundamental physics of many fermionic systems, the Anderson impurity and Hubbard models. We use these models to demonstrate how efficient mappings of these Hamiltonians can be constructed using a judicious choice of index ordering of the fermions. This development provides an alternative exact route to calculate the static and dynamical properties of fermionic systems and sets the stage to exploit the quantum-classical and semiclassical hierarchies to systematically derive methods offering a range of accuracies, thus enabling the study of problems where the fermionic degrees of freedom are coupled to complex anharmonic nuclear motion and spins which lie beyond the reach of most currently available methods.
We introduce a new class of quantum Monte Carlo methods, based on a Gaussian quantum operator representation of fermionic states. The methods enable first-principles dynamical or equilibrium calculations in many-body Fermi systems, and, combined with the existing Gaussian representation for bosons, provide a unified method of simulating Bose-Fermi systems. As an application relevant to the Fermi sign problem, we calculate finite-temperature properties of the two dimensional Hubbard model and the dynamics in a simple model of coherent molecular dissociation.
Analytical results on the correlation functions of strongly correlated many-body systems are rare in the literature and their importance cannot be overstated. We present determinant representations for the space-, time-, and temperature-dependent correlation functions of the strongly interacting one-dimensional Hubbard model in the presence of an external trapping potential. These representations are exact and valid in both equilibrium and nonequilibrium scenarios like the ones initiated by a sudden change of the confinement potential. In addition, they can be implemented numerically very easily, significantly outperforming other numerical approaches. As applications of our results we investigate the single-particle spectral functions of systems with harmonic trapping and show that dynamical quasicondensation occurs for both fermionic and bosonic spin-1/2 systems released from a Mott insulator state.
The Green’s function method is among the most powerful and versatile formalisms in physics, and its nonequilibrium version has proved invaluable in many research fields. With entirely new chapters and updated example problems, the second edition of this popular text continues to provide an ideal introduction to nonequilibrium many-body quantum systems and ultrafast phenomena in modern science. Retaining the unique and self-contained style of the original, this new edition has been thoroughly revised to address interacting systems of fermions and bosons, simplified many-body approaches like the GKBA, the Bloch equations, and the Boltzmann equations, and the connection between Green’s functions and newly developed time-resolved spectroscopy techniques. Small gaps in the theory have been filled, and frequently overlooked subtleties have been systematically highlighted and clarified. With an abundance of illustrative examples, insightful discussions, and modern applications, this book remains the definitive guide for students and researchers alike.
Theoretical studies of electron and energy transport in nanostructures usually involve nonequilibrium quantum impurity models, which feature a locally interacting quantum system (impurity) coupled to noninteracting bosonic and/or electronic baths each at its own equilibrium. In these models, the interplay of strong correlation, nonequilibrium effects and dissipation leads to rich and complex phenomena. As a nonequilibrium strongly correlated many-body problem, these models, except at some rare cases, have no exact analytical solution, and hence their treatment heavily relies upon numerical techniques. The goal of this thesis is to develop numerically accurate and relatively low-cost techniques for treatment of strongly correlated open nonequilibirum quantum systems. Such impurity solvers are in high demand both as standalone methods for simulation of response in nanoscale junctions and as part of divide-and-conquer schemes such as dynamical mean field theory (DMFT).For nonequilibirum open quantum systems, two characteristic energy scales governing the physics are intra-system interactions and strength of the system-baths couplings. Thus, systems strongly coupled to their baths with weak intra-system interactions or weakly coupled systems with strong local interactions can be treated within developed perturbation theory approaches. My research focuses on development of nonequilibirum dual techniques, which are capable to accurately treat situations where perturbative techniques are inapplicable due to absence of a small parameter in the system and which reduce to standard perturbative expansions in the limits of weak coupling or weak intra-system interaction. \tDual techniques rely on ability to solve exactly a simplified reference system. The latter includes exactly all intra-system interactions and accounts approximately for system-bath couplings. Dual techniques (described below) allow to account for deviation from the correct hybridization function in a organized and controlled manner of superperturbative expansion. Here, I use Markovian Lindbald quantum master equation (QME) as a solver for the reference system. In the thesis I discuss possibility of mapping between true non-Markov dynamics and simpler Markov Lindblad QME (mapping between physical and reference systems), numerical methods for the mapping and for solution of the resulting Lindblad QME, and application of the mapping in novel dual formulations: auxiliary-QME dual fermion and dual boson approaches. \tFirst I analytically prove that the continuous fermionic baths that the impurity is coupled to can be mapped onto a set of dissipative auxiliary modes under Lindblad QME. Based on this mapping, complicated non-Markovian dynamics of the open fermionic system can be treated by a much simpler Markovian Lindblad QME. However, nice mapping generally requires many auxiliary modes, and numerically only a small number of modes can be exactly diagonalized due to exponential increase of the Hilbert space. To perturbatively treat the difference between the true bath and the small-size auxiliary one, we introduce dual-fermion method. It can directly target the steady state and avoid long-time propagation. Besides current-voltage relation, it can also provide spectral functions, indicating itself as a potential impurity solver for DMFT. Furthermore, we generalize dual-fermion method to consider additionally the effects of bosonic environment; hence it is called dual-boson method. It can be used for studying electron-phonon interaction and light-matter interaction in nanojunctions. By comparing with numerically exact results we argue that both methods are very accurate and relatively cheap. \tFinally, matrix product state representation of the Lindblad QME enables us to treat a large number of auxiliary modes, which provide an exponentially improved mapping. Adding counting field to the auxiliary QME, we can compute the generating function of time-dependent full-counting statistics of electron transport, which yields not only electronic current but also higher-order cumulants (e.g., zero-frequency noise).
We consider the application of the original Meyer-Miller (MM) Hamiltonian to mapping fermionic quantum dynamics to classical equations of motion. Non-interacting fermionic and bosonic systems share the same one-body density dynamics when evolving from the same initial many-body state. The MM classical mapping is exact for non-interacting bosons, and therefore, it yields the exact time-dependent one-body density for non-interacting fermions as well. Starting from this observation, the MM mapping is compared to different mappings specific for fermionic systems, namely, the spin mapping with and without including a Jordan-Wigner transformation and the Li-Miller mapping (LMM). For non-interacting systems, the inclusion of fermionic anti-symmetry through the Jordan-Wigner transform does not lead to any improvement in the performance of the mappings, and instead, it worsens the classical description. For an interacting impurity model and for models of excitonic energy transfer, the MM and LMM mappings perform similarly, and in some cases, the former outperforms the latter when compared to a full quantum description. The classical mappings are able to capture interference effects, both constructive and destructive, that originate from equivalent energy transfer pathways in the models.