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arXiv:2306.17837 · SciPost Physics

Gauging tensor networks with belief propagation

Joseph Tindall, Matthew Fishman

Published Dec 1, 2023• 32 citations
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Abstract

Effectively compressing and optimizing tensor networks requires reliable methods for fixing the latent degrees of freedom of the tensors, known as the gauge. Here we introduce a new algorithm for gauging tensor networks using belief propagation, a method that was originally formulated for performing statistical inference on graphical models and has recently found applications in tensor network algorithms. We show that this method is closely related to known tensor network gauging methods. It has the practical advantage, however, that existing belief propagation implementations can be repurposed for tensor network gauging, and that belief propagation is a very simple algorithm based on just tensor contractions so it can be easier to implement, optimize, and generalize. We present numerical evidence and scaling arguments that this algorithm is faster than existing gauging algorithms, demonstrating its usage on structured, unstructured, and infinite tensor networks. Additionally, we apply this method to improve the accuracy of the widely used simple update gate evolution algorithm.

DOI
10.21468/scipostphys.15.6.222

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Effectively compressing and optimizing tensor networks requires reliable methods for fixing the latent degrees of freedom of the tensors, known as the gauge. Here we introduce a new algorithm for gauging tensor networks using belief propagation, a method that was originally formulated for performing statistical inference on graphical models and has recently found applications in tensor network algorithms. We show that this method is closely related to known tensor network gauging methods. It has the practical advantage, however, that existing belief propagation implementations can be repurposed for tensor network gauging, and that belief propagation is a very simple algorithm based on just tensor contractions so it can be easier to implement, optimize, and generalize. We present numerical evidence and scaling arguments that this algorithm is faster than existing gauging algorithms, demonstrating its usage on structured, unstructured, and infinite tensor networks. Additionally, we apply this method to improve the accuracy of the widely used simple update gate evolution algorithm.
Recent years have seen a growing interest in the use of belief propagation - an algorithm originally introduced for performing statistical inference on graphical models - for approximate, but highly efficient, tensor network contraction. Here, we detail how to apply generalized belief propagation (GBP) - where messages are passed within a hierarchy of overlapping regions of the tensor network - to approximately contract tensor networks and obtain accurate results. The original belief propagation algorithm is a corner case of this approach, corresponding to a particularly simple choice of regions of the tensor network. We implement the GBP algorithm for a number of different region choices on a range of two- and three-dimensional, infinite and finite tensor networks, solving the corresponding fixed point equations both numerically and, in certain tractable cases, analytically. Our examples include calculating the partition function of the fully frustrated Ising model, computing the ground state degeneracy of three-dimensional ice models, measuring observables on the deformed AKLT quantum state and evaluating the norm of randomly generated tensor network states.
Tensor network contraction on arbitrary graphs is a fundamental computational challenge with applications ranging from quantum simulation to error correction. While belief propagation (BP) provides a powerful approximation algorithm for this task, its accuracy limitations are poorly understood and systematic improvements remain elusive. Here, we develop a rigorous theoretical framework for BP in tensor networks, leveraging insights from statistical mechanics to devise a that systematically improves the BP approximation. We prove that the cluster expansion converges exponentially fast if an object called the decays sufficiently fast with the loop size, giving a rigorous error bound on BP. We also provide a simple and efficient algorithm to compute the cluster expansion to arbitrary order. We demonstrate the efficacy of our method on the two-dimensional Ising model, where we find that our method significantly improves upon BP and existing corrective algorithms such as loop series expansion. Our work opens the door to a systematic theory of BP for tensor networks and its applications in decoding quantum error-correcting codes and simulating quantum systems.
Tensor networks have attracted much attention as a powerful tool for modeling quantum many-body systems. Their contraction is a significant challenge, however, especially in highly connected networks, as memory requirements become prohibitive and the optimal contraction order is increasingly hard to find. The belief propagation (BP) algorithm has emerged as an alternative to exact contraction. Being formulated in a graph-agnostic way, it offers great flexibility, but its accuracy suffers in the presence of loops. In this work, we combine BP with the DMRG algorithm to solve ground-state problems, thereby extending DMRG to higher dimensions and arbitrary lattices. We demonstrate the viability of BP-DMRG on the transverse-field Ising model on a 2×22\times 22×2 hexagonal lattice, finding that it produces states with a fidelity between 0.90.90.9 and 0.990.990.99 to the true ground state, and energy estimates with a relative error between 10−210^{-2}10−2 and 10−310^{-3}10−3. Additionally, BP-DMRG can find ground states on randomly generated lattices, with fidelity improving as the transverse field increases. We conclude with a discussion of the limitations we encounter when using belief propagation, highlighting that the TFI tensor network operators lead to larger errors during BP iterations in BP-DMRG.
Belief propagation is a well-studied algorithm for approximating local marginals of multivariate probability distribution over complex networks, while tensor network states are powerful tools for quantum and classical many-body problems. Building on a recent connection between the belief propagation algorithm and the problem of tensor network contraction, we propose a block belief propagation algorithm for contracting two-dimensional (2D) tensor networks and approximating the ground state of 2D systems. The advantages of our method are threefold: (1) the same algorithm works for both finite and infinite systems; (2) it allows natural and efficient parallelization; and (3) given its flexibility, it would allow us to deal with different unit cells. As applications, we use our algorithm to study the 2D Heisenberg and transverse Ising models, and show that the accuracy of the method is on par with state-of-the-art results.
We propose a method for approximating the contraction of a tensor network by partitioning the network into a sum of computationally cheaper networks. This method, which we call a partitioned network expansion (PNE), builds upon recent work that systematically improves belief propagation (BP) approximations using loop corrections. However, in contrast to previous approaches, our expansion does not require a known BP fixed point to be implemented and can still yield accurate results even in cases where BP fails entirely. The flexibility of our approach is demonstrated through applications to a variety of example networks, including finite 2D and 3D networks, infinite networks, networks with open indices, and networks with degenerate BP fixed points. Benchmark numerical results for networks composed of Ising, AKLT, and random tensors typically show an improvement in accuracy over BP by several orders of magnitude (when BP solutions are obtainable) and also demonstrate improved performance over traditional network approximations based on singular value decomposition (SVD) for certain tasks.