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Journal of the Physical Society of Japan

Minus Sign Problem in the Monte Carlo Simulation of Lattice Fermion Systems

Nobuo Furukawa, Masatoshi Imada

Published Mar 15, 1991• 32 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The minus sign problem, as a problem of the non-positive-definite measure of the path integrals, is examined in the Monte Carlo simulation of the Hubbard model. A new correction method in terms of the ratio of two measured quantities is proposed to calculate physical properties. The momentum distribution and the spin correlation as well as the energy in the ground state are tested against the exactly diagonalized results. The results show that this ratio correction method is a promising prescription to reduce the minus sign problem.

DOI
10.1143/jpsj.60.810

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The minus sign problem, as a problem of the non-positive-definite measure of the path integrals, is examined in the Monte Carlo simulation of the Hubbard model. A new correction method in terms of the ratio of two measured quantities is proposed to calculate physical properties. The momentum distribution and the spin correlation as well as the energy in the ground state are tested against the exactly diagonalized results. The results show that this ratio correction method is a promising prescription to reduce the minus sign problem.
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The fermion sign problem, the biggest obstacle in quantum Monte Carlo calculations, is completely solved in this paper. Here, we find a strategy, in which the contribution from those negative-weighted paths is thoroughly cancelled or replaced by some positive-weighted paths. The crucial point lies on the Feynman path integral formula proposed in our group, which allows us to deeply analyze the Boltzmann weight of each path. Through mathematical proof, we demonstrate that physical quantities can be exactly calculated within a specific kind of paths, which have positive the Boltzmann weight. With this finding, a new Monte Carlo method is proposed, in which the fermion sign problem is absent. As an example, the current method is applied to the two-dimensional Hubbard model, and the results do manifest the correctness.
Abstract The fermion sign problem, the biggest obstacle in quantum Monte Carlo calculations, is completely solved in this paper. Here, we find a strategy, in which the contribution from those negative-weighted paths is thoroughly cancelled or replaced by some positive-weighted paths. The crucial point lies on the Feynman path integral formula proposed in our group, which allows us to deeply analyze the Boltzmann weight of each path. Through mathematical proof, we demonstrate that physical quantities can be exactly calculated within a specific wavefunction space, in which all paths have positive Boltzmann weight. With this finding, a new Monte Carlo method is proposed, in which the fermion sign problem is absent. As an example, the current method is applied to the two-dimensional Hubbard model, and the results do manifest the correctness. *Corresponding author: dysun@phy.ecnu.edu.cn
All known Quantum-Monte-Carlo algorithms for fermions suffer from the so-called “minus-sign-problem” which is detrimental to the application of these simulation methods to fermion systems at very low temperatures and/or of very many lattice sites. We identify the origin of this fundamental problem, demonstrate that it is a very general feature, not necessarily related to the presence of fermionic degrees of freedom. We describe an novel algorithm which does not suffer from the minus-sign problem. Illustrative results for the two-dimensional Hubbard model are presented
We formulate a path-integral Monte Carlo algorithm for simulating lattice systems consisting of fictitious particles governed by a generalized exchange statistics. This method, initially proposed for continuum systems, introduces a continuous parameter ξξξ in the partition function that interpolates between bosonic (ξ=1ξ= 1ξ=1) and fermionic (ξ=−1ξ= -1ξ=−1) statistics. We generalize this approach to discrete lattice models and apply it to the two-dimensional Hubbard model of fictitious particles, including the Bose- and Fermi-Hubbard models as special cases. By combining reweighting and ξξξ-extrapolation techniques, we access both half-filled and doped regimes. In particular, we demonstrate that the method remains effective even in strongly correlated, doped systems where the fermion sign problem hinders conventional quantum Monte Carlo approaches. Our results validate the applicability of the fictitious particle framework on lattice models and establish it as a promising tool for sign-problem mitigation in strongly interacting fermionic systems.