A compact representation is obtained for the quantum statistical sum of indistinguishable nonrelativistic spin-1/2 fermions in the form of Feynman path integrals which can be used as the basis to develop a fundamentally exact method of computer modeling for systems of strongly interacting electrons at nonzero temperature. A basis of symmetrized wave functions is constructed using Young symmetry operators. An exact permutation symmetrization procedure leads to an avalanche-like multiplication in the number of diagrams of linked Feynman integrals of the order of N !. The partition function can be simplified without introducing any approximations and this is performed numerically by computer by direct sorting of diagrams. The control tables obtained, containing combinatorial weights of diagrams, direct the Markov random walk process in virtual trajectory space which is achieved numerically by computer. The equilibrium characteristics of the quantum system are calculated by averaging. This approach is an expansion of the Monte Carlo-Metropolis method to systems of quantum indistinguishable particles with spin. Demonstration numerical calculations using this method were made for the simplest exchange systems, for a hydrogen molecule, a Be + ion, and a Li atom. The ground state of the hydrogen molecule is reproduced with a statistical error of 0.2%. Exchange-correlation effects lead to nontrivial structural changes in the thermally excited electron shells of ions in a state of strong plasma compression.
A compact representation is obtained for the quantum statistical sum of indistinguishable nonrelativistic spin-1/2 fermions in the form of Feynman path integrals which can be used as the basis to develop a fundamentally exact method of computer modeling for systems of strongly interacting electrons at nonzero temperature. A basis of symmetrized wave functions is constructed using Young symmetry operators. An exact permutation symmetrization procedure leads to an avalanche-like multiplication in the number of diagrams of linked Feynman integrals of the order of N !. The partition function can be simplified without introducing any approximations and this is performed numerically by computer by direct sorting of diagrams. The control tables obtained, containing combinatorial weights of diagrams, direct the Markov random walk process in virtual trajectory space which is achieved numerically by computer. The equilibrium characteristics of the quantum system are calculated by averaging. This approach is an expansion of the Monte Carlo-Metropolis method to systems of quantum indistinguishable particles with spin. Demonstration numerical calculations using this method were made for the simplest exchange systems, for a hydrogen molecule, a Be + ion, and a Li atom. The ground state of the hydrogen molecule is reproduced with a statistical error of 0.2%. Exchange-correlation effects lead to nontrivial structural changes in the thermally excited electron shells of ions in a state of strong plasma compression.
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.
The study of strongly correlated quantum many-body systems is an outstanding challenge. Highly accurate results are needed for the understanding of practical and fundamental problems in condensed-matter physics, high energy physics, material science, quantum chemistry and so on. Our familiar mean-field or perturbative methods tend to be ineffective. Numerical simulations provide a promising approach for studying such systems. The fundamental difficulty of numerical simulation is that the dimension of the Hilbert space needed to describe interacting systems increases exponentially with the system size. Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) methods are one of the best approaches to tackle the problem of enormous Hilbert space. They have been highly successful for boson systems and unfrustrated spin models. For systems with fermions, the exchange symmetry in general causes the infamous sign problem, making the statistical noise in the computed results grow exponentially with the system size. This hinders our understanding of interesting physics such as high-temperature superconductivity, metal-insulator phase transition. In this thesis, we present a variety of new developments in the auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo (AFQMC) methods, including the incorporation of symmetry in both the trial wave function and the projector, developing the constraint release method, using the force-bias to drastically improve the efficiency in Metropolis framework, identifying and solving the infinite variance problem, and sampling Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov wave function. With these developments, some of the most challenging many-electron problems are now under control. We obtain an exact numerical solution of two-dimensional strongly interacting Fermi atomic gas, determine the ground state properties of the 2D Fermi gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling, provide benchmark results for the ground state of the two-dimensional Hubbard model, and establish that the Hubbard model has a stripe order in the underdoped region.
Quantum interference and exchange statistical effects can affect the momentum distribution functions making them non-Maxwellian.Such effects may be important in studies of kinetic properties of matter at low temperatures and under extreme conditions.In this work we have generalized the path integral representation for Wigner function to strongly coupled three-dimensional quantum system of particles with Boltzmann and Fermi statistics.In suggested approach the explicit expression for Wigner function was obtained in harmonic approximation and Monte Carlo method allowing numerical calculation of Wigner function, distribution functions and average quantum values has been developed.As alternative more accurate single-momentum approach and related Monte Carlo method have been developed to calculation of the distribution functions of degenerate system of interacting fermions.It allows partially overcoming the well-known sign problem for degenerate Fermi systems.
This thesis is devoted to the development of numerical methods for correlated electrons in realistic systems based on perturbation theories using Feynman diagrams. Electron correlations in realistic systems give rise to a wide range of interesting physical properties. Diagrammatic expansions and its low-order approximations are key building blocks of theoretical and numerical methods for studying correlated electrons. Recent developments of the diagrammatic quantum Monte Carlo (DiagMC) methods enable efficient stochastic evaluations of diagrams and does not suffer from numerical sign problem which worsens with increasing system size. It is therefore a promising direction to apply DiagMC techniques to realistic electron systems in the pursuit of ab initio calculations of correlated materials. This thesis starts by reviewing basic concepts and definitions of realistic electron systems, the perturbation theory based on Feynman diagrams, Monte Carlo evaluations of the series, as well as self-consistent diagrammatic methods. Low-order diagrammatic methods are applied to realistic calculations and benchmarked against large collections of state-of-the-art many-body methods. The thesis then proposes a diagrammatic Monte Carlo solver for realistic molecules and impurities based on a recursive evaluation of diagrams, which is tested on realistic molecules and impurities with varying temperature, system size, and interaction strength. We observe that this method is ideal for problems with many orbitals with moderate correlations, but may suffer from series divergence at strong correlations. Next, we propose the inchworm Monte Carlo algorithm for interaction expansion, which overcomes limitations of divergent diagrammatic series by replacing the standard perturbation series with a sequence of incremental series expansions. A prototype implementation is presented for system with on-site Hubbard interactions. Finally, we discuss technical aspects of numerical representations of the Green's function, which has significant impact on the efficiency of diagrammatic methods. We review several common numerical representations, and introduce our development of the sparse sampling method, which provides compact representations of the Green's function in both imaginary time and frequency as well as fast transformation formula between the two.
It is shown from first principles that, in spite of the large interatomic forces, liquid 4 He should exhibit a transition analogous to the transition in an ideal Bose–Einstein gas. The exact partition function is written as an integral over trajectories, using the space-time approach to quantum mechanics. R.P. Feynman, 1953 Summary In this chapter we discuss imaginary-time path integrals and the path-integral Monte Carlo method for the calculation of properties of quantum systems at non-zero temperature. We discuss how Fermi and Bose statistics enter, and how to generalize the fixed-node procedure to non-zero temperature. We then discuss an auxiliary-field method for the Hubbard model. The path-integral method can be used to perform ground-state calculations, allowing calculations of properties with less bias than the projector Monte Carlo method. We also discuss the problem of estimating real-time response functions using information from imaginary-time correlation functions. In previous chapters we described two QMC methods, namely variational QMC and projector (diffusion) QMC. Both of these methods are zero temperature, or, more properly, are formulated for single states. In this chapter we discuss the path-integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) method, which is explicitly formulated at non-zero temperature. Directly including temperature is important because many, if not most, measurements and practical applications involve significant thermal effects. One might think that to do calculations at a non-zero temperature we would have to explicitly sum over excited states. Such a summation would be difficult to accomplish once the temperature is above the energy gap, because there are so many possible many-body excitations. In addition, the properties for each excitation are more difficult to calculate than those for the ground state. As we will see, path-integral methods do not require an explicit sum over excitations. As an added bonus, they provide an interesting and enlightening window through which to view quantum systems. However, the sign problem, introduced in the previous chapter, is still present for fermion systems. The fixed-node approximation is used again. An advantage of PIMC is the absence of a trial wavefunction. As a result, quantum expectation values, including ones not involving the energy, can be computed directly. For the expert, the lack of an importance function may seem a disadvantage; without it one cannot push the simulation in a preferred direction.