The central topic of this thesis is on the fermionic continuous matrix product states (cMPS) variational ansatz for many-body quantum systems in a one-dimensional (1D) continuum.The matrix product states (MPS) is a variational ansatz which has been tremendously successful for nearly two decades in efficiently approximating groundstate properties of low-dimensional quantum lattice systems.The MPS is intrinsically designed for discrete lattice systems, however, and the cMPS has been introduced in 2010 as a continuum analogue of the MPS, enabling the possibility to directly tackle systems of quantum gases and liquids without resorting to discretization of space.
We study the lattice Schwinger model by combining the variational uniform matrix product state (VUMPS) algorithm with a gauge-invariant matrix product ansatz that locally enforces the Gauss law constraint. Both the continuum and lattice versions of the Schwinger model with θ = π are known to exhibit first-order phase transitions for the values of the fermion mass above a critical value, where a second-order phase transition occurs. Our algorithm enables a precise determination of the critical point in the continuum theory. We further analyze the scaling in the simultaneous critical and continuum limits and confirm that the data collapse aligns with the Ising universality class to remarkable precision.
We numerically analyze the critical behaviors of the lattice Schwinger model by applying the variational uniform matrix product state (VUMPS) algorithm combined with a gauge-invariant matrix product ansatz that locally enforces the Gauss law constraint. Both the continuum and lattice versions of the Schwinger model with
θ=π are known to exhibit first-order phase transitions for the values of the fermion mass above a critical value, where a second-order phase transition occurs. Our algorithm enables a precise determination of the critical point in the continuum theory. We further analyze the scaling in the simultaneous critical and continuum limits and confirm that the data collapse aligns with the Ising universality class with high precision.