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arXiv:2409.01509

Robust analytic continuation using sparse modeling approach imposed by semi-positive definiteness for multi-orbital systems

Yuichi Motoyama, Hiroshi Shinaoka, Junya Otsuki, Kazuyoshi Yoshimi

Published Sep 3, 2024• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Analytic continuation (AC) from imaginary-time Green's function to spectral function is essential in the numerical analysis of dynamical properties in quantum many-body systems. However, this process faces a fundamental challenge: it is an ill-posed problem, leading to unstable spectra against the noise in the Green's function. This instability is further complicated in multi-orbital systems with hybridization between spin-orbitals, where off-diagonal Green's functions yield a spectral matrix with off-diagonal elements, necessitating the matrix's semi-positive definiteness to satisfy the causality. We propose an advanced AC method using sparse modeling for multi-orbital systems, which reduces the effect of noise and ensures the matrix's semi-positive definiteness. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach by contrasting it with the conventional sparse modeling method, focusing on handling Green's functions with off-diagonal elements, thereby demonstrating our proposed method's enhanced stability and precision.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2409.01509

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Analytic continuation (AC) from imaginary-time Green's function to spectral function is essential in the numerical analysis of dynamical properties in quantum many-body systems. However, this process faces a fundamental challenge: it is an ill-posed problem, leading to unstable spectra against the noise in the Green's function. This instability is further complicated in multi-orbital systems with hybridization between spin-orbitals, where off-diagonal Green's functions yield a spectral matrix with off-diagonal elements, necessitating the matrix's semi-positive definiteness to satisfy the causality. We propose an advanced AC method using sparse modeling for multi-orbital systems, which reduces the effect of noise and ensures the matrix's semi-positive definiteness. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach by contrasting it with the conventional sparse modeling method, focusing on handling Green's functions with off-diagonal elements, thereby demonstrating our proposed method's enhanced stability and precision.
Analytic continuation (AC) from the imaginary-time Green's function to the spectral function is a crucial process for numerical studies of the dynamical properties of quantum many-body systems. This process, however, is an ill-posed problem; that is, the obtained spectrum is unstable against the noise of the Green's function. Though several numerical methods have been developed, each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages. The sparse modeling (SpM) AC method, for example, is robust against the noise of the Green's function but suffers from unphysical oscillations in the low-energy region. We propose a method that combines the SpM AC with the Pad\'e approximation. This combination, called SpM-Pad\'e, inherits robustness against noise from SpM and low-energy accuracy from Pad\'e, compensating for the disadvantages of each. We demonstrate that the SpM-Pad\'e method yields low-variance and low-biased results with almost the same computational cost as that of the SpM method.
Green's functions of fermions are described by matrix-valued Herglotz-Nevanlinna functions. Since analytic continuation is fundamentally an ill-posed problem, the causal space described by the matrix-valued Herglotz-Nevanlinna structure can be instrumental in improving the accuracy and in enhancing the robustness with respect to noise. We demonstrate a three-pronged procedure for robust analytic continuation called PES: (1) projection of data to the causal space; (2) estimation of pole locations; and (3) semidefinite relaxation within the causal space. We compare the performance of PES with the recently developed Nevanlinna and Carath\'eodory continuation methods and find that PES is more robust in the presence of noise and does not require the usage of extended precision arithmetics. We also demonstrate that a causal projection improves the performance of the Nevanlinna and Carath\'eodory methods. The PES method is generalized to bosonic response functions, for which the Nevanlinna and Carath\'eodory continuation methods have not yet been developed. It is particularly useful for studying spectra with sharp features, as they occur in the study of molecules and band structures in solids.
Abstract Analytic continuation maps imaginary-time Green’s functions obtained by various theoretical/numerical methods to real-time response functions that can be directly compared with experiments. Analytic continuation is an important bridge between many-body theories and experiments but is also a challenging problem because such mappings are ill-conditioned. In this work, we develop a neural network (NN)-based method for this problem. The training data is generated either using synthetic Gaussian-type spectral functions or from exactly solvable models where the analytic continuation can be obtained analytically. Then, we applied the trained NN to the testing data, either with synthetic noise or intrinsic noise in Monte Carlo simulations. We conclude that the best performance is always achieved when a proper amount of noise is added to the training data. Moreover, our method can successfully capture multi-peak structure in the resulting response function for the cases with the best performance. The method can be combined with Monte Carlo simulations to compare with experiments on real-time dynamics.
Analytic continuation is a critical step in quantum many-body computations, connecting imaginary-time or Matsubara Green's functions with real-frequency spectral functions, which can be directly compared to experimental results. However, because of the ill-posed nature of the analytic continuation problems, they have not been completely solved so far. In this paper, we suggest a simple, yet highly efficient method for analytic continuations of Matsubara Green's functions. This method takes advantage of barycentric rational functions to directly interpolate Matsubara Green's functions. At first, the nodes and weights of the barycentric rational functions are determined by the adaptive Antoulas-Anderson algorithm, avoiding reliance on nonconvex optimization. Next, the retarded Green's functions and the related spectral functions are evaluated by the resulting interpolants. We systematically explore the performance of this method through a series of toy models and realistic examples, comparing its accuracy and efficiency with other popular methods, such as the maximum entropy method. The benchmark results demonstrate that the new method can accurately reproduce not only continuous but also discrete spectral functions, irrespective of their positive definiteness. It works well even in the presence of intermediate noise, and outperforms traditional analytic continuation methods in computational speed. We believe that this method should stand out for its robustness against noise, broad applicability, high precision, and ultra-efficiency, offering a promising alternative to the maximum entropy method.
We present a machine-learning approach to a long-standing issue in quantum many-body physics, namely, analytic continuation. This notorious ill-conditioned problem of obtaining spectral function from an imaginary time Green's function has been a focus of new method developments for past decades. Here we demonstrate the usefulness of modern machine-learning techniques including convolutional neural networks and the variants of a stochastic gradient descent optimizer. The machine-learning continuation kernel is successfully realized without any ``domain knowledge,'' which means that any physical ``prior'' is not utilized in the kernel construction and the neural networks ``learn'' the knowledge solely from ``training.'' The outstanding performance is achieved for both insulating and metallic band structure. Our machine-learning-based approach not only provides the more accurate spectrum than the conventional methods in terms of peak positions and heights, but is also more robust against the noise which is the required key feature for any continuation technique to be successful. Furthermore, its computation speed is 104–105{10}^{4}\text{--}{10}^{5}104–105 times faster than the maximum entropy method.
A data-science approach to solving the ill-conditioned inverse problem for analytical continuation is proposed. The root of the problem lies in the fact that even tiny noise of imaginary-time input data has a serious impact on the inferred real-frequency spectra. By means of a modern regularization technique, we eliminate redundant degrees of freedom that essentially carry the noise, leaving only relevant information unaffected by the noise. The resultant spectrum is represented with minimal bases and thus a stable analytical continuation is achieved. This framework further provides a tool for analyzing to what extent the Monte Carlo data need to be accurate to resolve details of an expected spectral function.