We review recent developments in tensor network approaches, focusing on renormalization group methods. Since they are free from the negative sign and complex action problems, there is growing interest in their application to lattice field theories, particularly with a view toward future studies of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) at finite temperature and density. They are also of broad interest in quantum field theory, with recent advances in approaches that allow one to directly investigate universal aspects of critical behavior by making use of theoretical insights from conformal field theory. We highlight several recently explored topics that are expected to play important roles in forthcoming tensor-network studies of QCD.
We review recent developments in tensor network approaches, focusing on renormalization group methods. Since they are free from the negative sign and complex action problems, there is growing interest in their application to lattice field theories, particularly with a view toward future studies of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) at finite temperature and density. They are also of broad interest in quantum field theory, with recent advances in approaches that allow one to directly investigate universal aspects of critical behavior by making use of theoretical insights from conformal field theory. We highlight several recently explored topics that are expected to play important roles in forthcoming tensor-network studies of QCD.
Abstract We propose a new technique to incorporate multiple fermion flavors in the tensor renormalization group method for lattice gauge theories, where fermions are treated by the Grassmann tensor network formalism. The basic idea is to separate the site tensor into multiple layers associated with each flavor and to introduce the gauge field in each layer as replicas, which are all identified later. This formulation, after introducing an appropriate compression scheme in the network, enables us to reduce the size of the initial tensor with high efficiency compared with a naive implementation. The usefulness of this formulation is demonstrated by investigating the chiral phase transition and the Silver Blaze phenomenon in 2D Abelian gauge theories with Nf flavors of Wilson fermions up to Nf = 4.
Tensor network methods are numerical tools and algorithms to study many-body quantum systems in and out of equilibrium, based on tailored variational wave functions. They have found significant applications in simulating lattice gauge theories that approach relevant problems in high-energy physics. Compared to Monte Carlo methods, they do not suffer from the sign problem, allowing them to explore challenging regimes such as finite chemical potentials and real-time dynamics. Further development is required to tackle fundamental challenges, such as accessing continuum limits or computations of large-scale quantum chromodynamics. This work reviews the state-of-the-art tensor network methods and discusses a possible roadmap for algorithmic development and strategies to enhance their capabilities and extend their applicability to open high-energy problems. We provide tailored estimates of the theoretical and computational resource scaling for attacking large-scale lattice gauge theories. Tensor networks are a powerful complementary approach to Monte Carlo methods for simulating lattice gauge theories, enabling access to challenging regimes such as real-time dynamics and finite-density systems. This work reviews the state of the art, outlines a roadmap for algorithmic developments, and provides resource estimates to guide large-scale applications in high-energy physics.
The phase diagram of QCD is a central research topic in modern particle physics. Its calculation, however, is notoriously difficult especially when not only nonzero temperatures
T but also non-vanishing baryon densities are considered – as is relevant for heavy‑ion collisions or inside large neutron stars. At the theoretical level, nonzero baryon densities are achieved by introducing a nonzero chemical potential
μ, which creates a particle-antiparticle asymmetry. It turns out that for nonzero chemical potential, the fermion determinant is no longer real but complex, and therefore standard approaches based on importance sampling break down. In the literature, this is commonly referred to as the sign problem. In order to circumvent this sign problem, a variety of methods has been proposed. Examples include a Taylor expansion in
μ, reweighting, complex Langevin, thimbles or path optimization. Nevertheless, none of the proposed remedies can successfully reach regimes in which
μ/T>1, and therefore even today the full QCD phase diagram in the
μ−T plane cannot be calculated. There is a promising further approach, called tensor-network approach, that differs crucially from all of the aforementioned approaches. In this approach, the partition function is written as a contraction of a large number of local tensors. Of special relevance is the higher order tensor renormalization group (HOTRG) approach, which can be applied for arbitrary number of dimensions, and in particular its generalization, the Grassmann HOTRG (GHOTRG) approach, which is applicable to theories including fermions. Recently, GHOTRG was tailored to strong-coupling QCD using one flavor of staggered quarks in two dimensions. It was observed that, for a non‑zero chemical potential, no numerical instabilities arise. In this thesis, we go beyond both the strong-coupling limit and the single-flavor case. We express the partition function of lattice QCD with staggered fermions in the strong-coupling expansion in terms of a tensor network. This is done for an arbitrary number of dimensions, flavors, and orders of the strong-coupling expansion. Further, the GHOTRG approach is extended such that every coefficient
Zn of the partition function
Z=∑nZnβn can be calculated separately. Finally, numerical results in two dimensions are studied.
Abstract We perform a tensor renormalization group simulation of non-Abelian gauge theory in three dimensions using a formulation based on the “armillary sphere”. In this formulation, matrix indices are completely traced out, eliminating the degeneracy in the singular-value spectrum of the initial tensor. We demonstrate the usefulness of this technique by computing the average plaquette at zero temperature and the Polyakov-loop susceptibility at finite temperatures for the 2+1D SU(2) and SU(3) gauge theories. The deconfinement transition is identified for both gauge groups, with the SU(2) case being consistent with previous Monte Carlo results.