A new variational approach is proposed for the study of the many-body problem with the purpose of combining the advantages of perturbation-theoretic and variational approaches, while avoiding their disadvantages. A trial wave function is constructed so that a general expansion for the expectation value of an arbitrary physical quantity can be derived. Each term in the expansion can be calculated with the use of the techniques of Feynman diagrams, but in contrast with usual perturbation-theoretic approaches, every term in the expansion always converges. The procedure for applying the method to real systems is illustrated by a calculation of the ground-state energy of the electron gas at high densities.
A new variational approach is proposed for the study of the many-body problem with the purpose of combining the advantages of perturbation-theoretic and variational approaches, while avoiding their disadvantages. A trial wave function is constructed so that a general expansion for the expectation value of an arbitrary physical quantity can be derived. Each term in the expansion can be calculated with the use of the techniques of Feynman diagrams, but in contrast with usual perturbation-theoretic approaches, every term in the expansion always converges. The procedure for applying the method to real systems is illustrated by a calculation of the ground-state energy of the electron gas at high densities.
Following previous work in which a variational method for the many-body problem was proposed wherein an effective potential $\stackrel{\ifmmode \tilde{}\else \~{}\fi{}}{V}$ was introduced as a variational parameter to construct a trial wave function, we apply the method to the two-dimensional electron gas. In the method, every physical quantity is expanded in powers of $\stackrel{\ifmmode \tilde{}\else \~{}\fi{}}{V}$ instead of the bare potential as in the usual perturbation-theoretic approach. Because of this choice of expansion parameter, the expansion series converges rapidly even in the strong-coupling region. The result for the correlation energy in the two-dimensional electron gas agrees very well with that given by the variational Monte Carlo method even in the lowest-order calculation (i.e., to second order in $\stackrel{\ifmmode \tilde{}\else \~{}\fi{}}{V}$). The difference is within several percent for 1<rs<100.
A trial solution constructed from two-particle functions is applied to the problem of the N-particle system with strong interactions. In a variational treatment based on this wave function the expectation values, which cannot be factored into single-particle integrals, are evaluated by a cluster development in powers of the particle density. The procedure is illustrated by a calculation of the pair distribution function and zero-point energy of the hard sphere gas, for Bose and Fermi statistics.
To avoid confusion, it is necessary to be quite explicit about what is assumed and what is to be proved. A. Klein, Phys. Rev. 121, 950 (1961) Summary The topic of this chapter is functionals that provide a concise formulation for thermodynamic quantities and Green's function methods in interacting many-body systems. Building upon the instructive examples of density functional theory and the Hartree– Fock approximation, functionals of the Green's function are developed to provide a framework for practical methods used extensively in many-body perturbation theory (Chs. 9–15), dynamical mean-field theory (Chs. 16–20), and their combination in Ch. 21. Functional concepts give a firm foundation for those methods, for example, they give the conditions for approximations to obey conservation laws. Additional background and specific aspects are in App. H. Many physical quantities can be expressed as functionals , i.e., they depend on an entire function.1 For example, in the quantum variational method to determine a wavefunction, the total energy of a system of many electrons is a functional of a many-body trial wavefunction ( r 1 , r 2 , …): it is the expectation value of the hamiltonian. At the variational minimum, assuming the trial wavefunction is completely flexible, one finds the many-body Schrödinger equation for the ground state. Many of the properties we are interested in are, formally, simple functionals of the ground- or excited-state wavefunctions. In the search for feasible ways to calculate properties such as excitation spectra, we are led to different types of functional. The idea is to deal only with a physical, measurable quantity Q of interest and a variational functional E [ Q ] of this quantity. The variational character of E allows one to derive equations that determine Q 0 , the value of Q for the system in a desired state, typically the ground state or equilibrium state at T ≠ 0. Other properties should be different functionals F m [ Q ] that can then be evaluated at Q = Q 0 . This strategy is outlined in Fig. 8.1. To appreciate the power of such approaches, one can consider the impact of density functional theory, which is formulated as a functional of the density n ( r ) of electrons; it is defined for a range of densities and the variational minimum for the energy functional E [ n ] leads to equations to determine the actual ground-state density n 0 ( r ) and total energy E 0 .
Two of the most influential ideas developed by Richard Feynman are the Feynman diagram technique and his variational approach. Here we show that combining both, and introducing a diagrammatic quantum Monte Carlo method, results in a powerful and accurate solver to the generic solid state problem, in which a macroscopic number of electrons interact by the long range Coulomb repulsion. We apply it to the quintessential problem of solid state, the uniform electron gas, which is at the heart of the density functional theory success in describing real materials, yet it has not been adequately solved for over 90 years. Our method allows us to calculate numerically exact momentum and frequency resolved spin and charge response functions. This method can be applied to a number of moderately interacting electron systems, including models of realistic metallic and semiconducting solids.
In a previous paper a trial wave function of the form ψ = D II i<i f ( x ij ) was used variationally to calculate the ground-state energy of an interacting electron gas, D being a determinant of plane waves and f ( x ij ) a correlation function. In this work attention is focused on the nature of the wave function; in particular, the correlation function f ( x ij ) and the pair distribution function are calculated and numerical results are presented for two widely different densities. In the course of this work, further light is thrown on the approximations made in the earlier energy calculations. Finally, the use of a wave function of the type ψ = II i<j f ( x ij ) in the calculation of the ground-state energy of a system of charged bosons is discussed and the exact high-density result of Foldy obtained.
Two of the most influential ideas developed by Richard Feynman are the Feynman diagram technique and his variational approach. The former provides a powerful tool to construct a systematic expansion for a generic interacting system, while the latter allows optimization of a perturbation theory using a variational principle. Here we show that combining a variational approach with a new diagrammatic quantum Monte Carlo method, both based on the Feynman's original ideas, results in a powerful and accurate solver to the generic solid state problem, in which a macroscopic number of electrons interact by the long range Coulomb repulsion. We apply the solver to the quintessential problem of solid state, the uniform electron gas (UEG), which is at the heart of the density functional theory (DFT) success in describing real materials, yet it has not been adequately solved for over 90 years. While some wave-function properties, like the ground state energy, have been very accurately calculated by the diffusion Monte Carlo method (DMC), the static and dynamic response functions, which are directly accessed by the experiment, and are crucial for development of non-local and non-adiabatic density functionals, remain poorly understood. Our method allows us to calculate the momentum-frequency resolved spin response functions for the first time, and to improve on the precision of the charge response function. The accuracy of both response functions is sufficiently high, so as to uncover previously missed fine structure in these responses. This method can be straightforwardly applied to a large number of moderately interacting electron systems in the thermodynamic limit, including realistic models of metallic and semiconducting solids.