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Physical Review E

Path-integral–expanded-ensemble Monte Carlo method in treatment of the sign problem for fermions

Mikhail Voznesenskiy, P. N. Vorontsov‐Velyaminov, Alexander P. Lyubartsev

Published Dec 3, 2009• 13 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Expanded-ensemble Monte Carlo method with Wang-Landau algorithm was used for calculations of the ratio of partition functions for classes of permutations in the problem of several interacting quantum particles (fermions) in an external field. Simulations for systems consisting of 2 up to 7 interacting particles in harmonic or Coulombic field were performed. The presented approach allows one to carry out calculations for low enough temperatures that makes it possible to extract data for the ground-state energy and low-temperature thermodynamics.

DOI
10.1103/physreve.80.066702

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Expanded-ensemble Monte Carlo method with Wang-Landau algorithm was used for calculations of the ratio of partition functions for classes of permutations in the problem of several interacting quantum particles (fermions) in an external field. Simulations for systems consisting of 2 up to 7 interacting particles in harmonic or Coulombic field were performed. The presented approach allows one to carry out calculations for low enough temperatures that makes it possible to extract data for the ground-state energy and low-temperature thermodynamics.
Abstract We propose a new approach in obtaining the partition function of a system of several interacting particles (fermions) in external field within path integral Monte Carlo method based on direct averaging of the exchange contributions over the positive weight determined by non‐closed trajectories. This procedure is performed at fixed temperatures, ranging to rather low values. The complete partition function for each temperature is then obtained within an expanded ensemble procedure. We found a good agreement of data obtained by the new method with results of previously proposed path‐integral‐expanded‐ensemble Monte Carlo calculations [1, 2]. The new approach allows to reach observably lower temperatures compared to method [1, 2], thus providing a significant reduce of the sign problem. It yields an independent way to treat thermal properties of quantum systems, so the good agreement with previous data [1, 2] allows us to test and state the validity of both approaches. Simulations for systems of 2 up to 5 non‐interacting particles and particles interacting with Coulomb repulsion in 3D harmonic field were performed. The presented approach allows one to carry out calculations for low temperatures that makes it possible to extract data for the ground‐state energy and low‐temperature thermodynamics. (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Abstract Path integral Monte Carlo method in the expanded ensemble is used for calculation of the ratio of partition functions for different classes of permutations treating the problem of several interacting identical particles (fermions) in an external field. Wang‐Landau algorithm is used for adjustment of balancing factors. For systems consisting of greater than two number of particles we propose an advanced variant of our approach which implies calculation of the ratio of positive and negative contributions to the partition function. Densities and energies of the sequence of excited states starting from the ground state for a system of non interacting quantum particles are calculated in turn, one by one, by means of considering systems with artificially excluded lowest energy levels and further obtaining of the ”ground state” of each next system constructed in this way. The idea of evaluation of densities of excited states for a quantum system with interparticle interaction by evaluating density difference between systems of different number of noninteracting Fermi‐copies of the system of interest is realized in terms of cyclic expansion formalism for a simple 2D system of two spinless fermions interacting via Coulomb repulsion (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
An approach is presented to compute properties of excited states in path integral Monte Carlo simulations of quantum systems. The approach is based on the introduction of several images of the studied system which have the total wavefunction antisymmetric over permutations of these images, and a simulation of the whole system at low enough temperature. The success of the approach relies, however, on the solution of the sign problem for the corresponding system. In the cases when the sign problem may be resolved (as for fermions in one dimension), properties of excited states can be computed with high precision. This was demonstrated by a simulation of excited states of a single particle in one- and two-dimensional harmonic oscillators. An example of the simulation of excited states of several interacting electrons in one dimension is also given.
In general, Quantum Monte Carlo methods suffer from a sign problem when simulating fermionic systems. This causes the efficiency of a simulation to decrease exponentially with the number of particles and inverse temperature. To circumvent this issue, a nodal constraint is often implemented, restricting the Monte Carlo procedure from sampling paths that cause the many-body density matrix to change sign. Unfortunately, this high-dimensional nodal surface is not a priori known unless the system is exactly solvable, resulting in uncontrolled errors. We will discuss two possible routes to extend the applicability of finite-temperatue path integral Monte Carlo. First we extend the regime where signful simulations are possible through a novel permutation sampling scheme. Afterwards, we discuss a method to variationally improve the nodal surface by minimizing a free energy during simulation. Applications of these methods will include both free and interacting electron gases, concluding with discussion concerning extension to inhomogeneous systems.
A novel path integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) approach for correlated many-particle systems with arbitrary pair interaction in continuous space at low temperatures is presented. It is based on a representation of the N -particle density operator in a basis of (anti-)symmetrized N -particle states (configurations of occupation numbers). The path integral is transformed into a sum over trajectories with the same topology and, finally, the limit of M →∞ , where M is the number of high-temperature factors, is analytically performed. This yields exact expressions for the thermodynamic quantities and allows to perform efficient simulations for fermions at low temperature and weak to moderate coupling. Our method is expected to be applicable to dense quantum plasmas in the regime of strong degeneracy where conventional PIMC fails due to the fermion sign problem. c
A rigorous expression for the partition function of N identical fermions with spin 1/2 is obtained in a form suitable for a path-integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) simulation of a many-electron system at a finite temperature. A sum over permutations is reduced to a sum over classes with readily determinable factors. A distribution over projections and values of the total spin is also obtained, enabling PIMC calculations of spin-dependent quantities. An MC algorithm is proposed which accounts simultaneously for all types of trajectory linkages. A test calculation, four electrons in a spherical cavity with a radius of 1 nm at a temperature of 300--2000 K, is performed.