The dynamical cluster approximation (DCA) and its
DCA+ extension use coarse-graining of the momentum space to reduce the complexity of quantum many-body problems, thereby mapping the bulk lattice to a cluster embedded in a dynamical mean-field host. Here, we introduce a new form of an interlaced coarse-graining and compare it with the traditional coarse-graining. While it gives a more localized self-energy for a given cluster size, we show that it leads to more controlled results with weaker cluster shape and smoother cluster size dependence, which converge to the results obtained from the standard coarse-graining with increasing cluster size. Most importantly, the new coarse-graining reduces the severity of the fermionic sign problem of the underlying quantum Monte Carlo cluster solver and thus allows for calculations on larger clusters. This enables the treatment of correlations longer ranged than those accessible with the standard coarse-graining and thus can allow for the evaluation of the exact infinite cluster size result via finite size scaling. As a demonstration, we study the hole-doped two-dimensional Hubbard model and show that the interlaced coarse-graining in combination with the extended
DCA+ algorithm permits the determination of the superconducting
Tc on cluster sizes for which the results can be fit with a Kosterlitz-Thouless scaling law.
We derive a cluster mean-field theory for an Ising Hamiltonian using a cluster-lattice Fourier transform with a cluster of size
Nc and a coarse-grained (CG) lattice into cells of size
Ncell. We explore forms with ${N}_{\mathrm{cell}}\ensuremath{\geqslant}{N}_{\mathrm{c}}$, including a non-CG (NCG) version with ${N}_{\mathrm{cell}}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}$. For
Nc=Ncell, the set of static, self-consistent equations relating cluster and CG lattice correlations is analogous to that in dynamical cluster approximation and cellular dynamical mean-field theory used in correlated electron physics. A variational
Nc-site cluster grand potential based on
Nc=Ncell CG lattice maintains thermodynamic consistency and improves predictions, recovering Monte Carlo and series expansion results upon finite-size scaling; notably, the
Nc=1 CG results already predict well the first- and second-order phase boundary topology and transition temperatures for frustrated lattices. The NCG version is significantly faster computationally than the CG case and more accurate at fixed
Nc for ferromagnetism, which is potentially useful for cluster expansion and quantum cluster applications.
The origin of classical predictability is investigated for the one dimensional harmonic chain considered as a closed quantum mechanical system. By comparing the properties of a family of coarse-grained descriptions of the chain, we conclude that local coarse grainings in this family are more useful for prediction than nonlocal ones. A quantum mechanical system exhibits classical behavior when the probability is high for histories having the correlations in time implied by classical deterministic laws. But approximate classical determinism holds only for certain coarse grainings and then only if the initial state of the system is suitably restricted. Coarse grainings by the values of the hydrodynamic variables (integrals over suitable volumes of densities of approximately conserved quantities) define the histories usually used in classical physics. But what distinguishes this coarse graining from others? This paper approaches this question by analyzing a family of coarse grainings for the linear harmonic chain. At one extreme in the family the chain is divided into local groups of N atoms. At the other extreme the N atoms are distributed nonlocally over the whole chain. Each coarse graining follows the average (center of mass) positions of the groups and ignores the ``internal'' coordinates within each group, these constituting a different environment for each coarse graining. For an initial condition where long wavelength modes are excited and short wavelength modes are distributed thermally we find that the coarse-grained positions obey deterministic equations of motion accompanied by noise. The noise is greater the more nonlocal the coarse graining. Further, the deterministic equations require more time steps to evolve over a given time interval for the nonlocal coarse grainings than for the local ones. A continuum limit is possible only for the near local coarse grainings. For parameters of the model characteristic of realistic situations these features strongly favor the local coarse grainings over the nonlocal ones for prediction. Each of these differences can be traced to the approximate conservation of the local center of mass momentum. We then consider the chain quantum mechanically and show that, for realistic parameters, all the coarse grainings decohere rapidly compared to dynamical time scales. We conclude that noise, decoherence, and computational complexity favor locality over nonlocality for deterministic predictability.