We review existing classical simulation methods for performing fermionic Gaussian operations and develop new methods to address the gap by adhering to the fundamental theoretical framework established by Bravyi [Quantum Info. Comput. 5, 216 (2005)] for the most general fermionic Gaussian processes. Throughout this attempt, the focus remains on the unified approach that can be applied to generic fermionic Gaussian operations. This is beneficial since the selection of simulation methods has often been based on an ad hoc choice, heavily influenced by the specific model and circumstances, rather than on a systematic approach.
ABSTRACT We review existing classical simulation methods for performing fermionic Gaussian operations and develop new methods to address the gap by adhering to the fundamental theoretical framework established by Bravyi [Quantum Info. Comput. 5, 216 (2005)] for the most general fermionic Gaussian processes. Throughout this attempt, the focus remains on the unified approach that can be applied to generic fermionic Gaussian operations. This is beneficial since the selection of simulation methods has often been based on an ad hoc choice, heavily influenced by the specific model and circumstances, rather than on a systematic approach.
For strongly quantum-degenerate systems at finite temperatures, the fermion sign problem remains the major obstacle to first-principles simulations. In this work, we apply the recently proposed pseudo-fermion method - designed to overcome the sign problem - to strongly quantum-degenerate uniform electron gases. We find that the pseudo-fermion method can efficiently and highly accurately infer the energy of the uniform electron gas while being free from the fermion sign problem. For example, in the strongly quantum-degenerate regime where RPIMC fails (33 spin-polarized electrons at the density parameter
rs=0.5), the relative deviation between the pseudo-fermion method and the exact CPIMC result is only 0.6%. In particular, the pseudo-fermion method bridges the gap where neither CPIMC nor RPIMC can accurately simulate the regime
1≤rs≤2 at the reduced temperature
θ=0.0625. This work demonstrates that the pseudo-fermion method opens a new pathway for studying strongly quantum-degenerate systems in a sign-problem-free manner.