A variety of quantum many-body methods have been developed for studying the strongly correlated electron systems. We have also proposed a computationally efficient and accurate approach, named the correlation matrix renormalization (CMR) method to address the challenges. The theoretic development and benchmark tests of the CMR method are included in this thesis. Meanwhile, ground state total energy is the most important property of electronic calculations. We also investigated an alternative approach to calculate the total energy, and extended this method for magnetic anisotropy energy of ferromagnetic materials. In addition, another theoretical tool, dynamical mean-field theory on top of the density functional theory, has also been used in electronic structure calculations for an Iridium oxide to study the phase transition, which results from an interplay of the d electrons' internal degrees of freedom.
A variety of quantum many-body methods have been developed for studying the strongly correlated electron systems. We have also proposed a computationally efficient and accurate approach, named the correlation matrix renormalization (CMR) method to address the challenges. The theoretic development and benchmark tests of the CMR method are included in this thesis. Meanwhile, ground state total energy is the most important property of electronic calculations. We also investigated an alternative approach to calculate the total energy, and extended this method for magnetic anisotropy energy of ferromagnetic materials. In addition, another theoretical tool, dynamical mean-field theory on top of the density functional theory, has also been used in electronic structure calculations for an Iridium oxide to study the phase transition, which results from an interplay of the d electrons' internal degrees of freedom.
Developing accurate and computationally efficient methods to calculate the electronic structure and total energy of correlated-electron materials has been a very challenging task in condensed matter physics and materials science. Recently, we have developed a correlation matrix renormalization (CMR) method which does not assume any empirical Coulomb interaction U parameters and does not have double counting problems in the ground-state total energy calculation. The CMR method has been demonstrated to be accurate in describing both the bonding and bond breaking behaviors of molecules. In this study, we extend the CMR method to the treatment of electron correlations in periodic solid systems. Using a linear hydrogen chain as a benchmark system, we show that the results from the CMR method compare very well with those obtained recently by accurate quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) calculations. We also study the equation of states of three-dimensional crystalline phases of atomic hydrogen. We show that the results from the CMR method agree much better with the available QMC data in comparison with those from density functional theory and Hartree-Fock calculations.
We recently proposed the correlation matrix renormalization (CMR) theory to treat the electronic correlation effects [Phys. Rev. B 2014, 89, 045131 and Sci. Rep. 2015, 5, 13478] in ground state total energy calculations of molecular systems using the Gutzwiller variational wave function (GWF). By adopting a number of approximations, the computational effort of the CMR can be reduced to a level similar to Hartree-Fock calculations. This paper reports our recent progress in minimizing the error originating from some of these approximations. We introduce a novel sum-rule correction to obtain a more accurate description of the intersite electron correlation effects in total energy calculations. Benchmark calculations are performed on a set of molecules to show the reasonable accuracy of the method.
The study of strongly correlated materials remains one of the most challenging and active frontiers in condensed matter physics. In these systems, the intricate interplay between electrons' kinetic energy and their mutual Coulomb repulsion gives rise to a plethora of exotic phenomena, from high-temperature superconductivity to giant magnetoresistance, which cannot be explained by conventional one-electron theories. This necessitates the development and application of advanced theoretical and computational methods capable of capturing the essential physics of strong electronic correlations. A diverse array of numerical and analytical techniques has been developed to tackle the many-body problem. However, no single method serves as a panacea; each comes with its own set of strengths and weaknesses, and their domains of applicability vary significantly. The choice of an appropriate approximation is therefore highly dependent on the specific physical system and the scientific question at hand. Different problems may benefit from different, and sometimes complementary, methodological perspectives. This thesis focuses primarily on the application and development of local or quasi-local approaches. The rationale for this focus is rooted in the physical reality of many key correlated materials, such as transition metal oxides, heavy-fermion systems or molecular solids like alkali-doped fullerenes, where the local on-site electronic interaction is the dominant energy scale. By prioritizing the accurate treatment of local physics, these methods provide a robust and computationally efficient approximation for understanding a wide range of material properties. Recent experimental and theoretical advancements—spanning the rich physics of multiorbital compounds, the precise control over interactions in ultracold atomic gases, and the complex interplay in electron-phonon coupled systems—have created an urgent need for theoretical frameworks that can deliver reliable and rapid insights. The methods explored in this work are meant to address these challenges, offering a balance between accuracy and computational feasibility. Given the variety of topics addressed, from methodological developments to their application in diverse physical contexts, this thesis will try to be as detailed and self-contained as necessary, providing a clear exposition of the underlying concepts and technical aspects.
Achieving materials-specific predictions for large, realistic molecules and solids with strong electron correlations remains a long-standing challenge in quantum chemistry. This dissertation develops scalable ab initio quantum many-body methods for crystalline materials, demonstrating that rigorous optimization of theoretical approximations and numerical algorithms enables predictive computation even in strongly correlated systems. The work tackles three interconnected challenges, namely describing material-specific properties of strongly correlated superconductors, achieving linear scaling with k-points for large-scale periodic calculations, and establishing reliable methods for electron-phonon interactions. The following chapters address each challenge in turn. Chapter 2 demonstrates that ab initio density matrix embedding theory, combined with symmetry-breaking strategies for superconducting order parameters, reproduces experimental trends in cuprate superconductivity, including pressure and layer effects on transition temperatures. By directly solving the electronic Schrödinger equation from material structures, these calculations capture multi-orbital covalency effects that simplified model Hamiltonians neglect, revealing their essential role in the spin fluctuations driving pairing. This predictive capability establishes a foundation for efficient computational screening of superconducting materials. Extending these calculations to larger k-point meshes and broader phase diagram explorations, however, demands more efficient computational algorithms. To overcome this computational bottleneck, Chapter 3 introduces interpolative separable density fitting framework. This development enables thermodynamic limit calculations with up to 1000 k-points, as validated on diamond, carbon dioxide, nickel monoxide, and cuprate systems. Integration with density matrix embedding theory and local natural orbital methods further yields converged ground-state energies from accurate correlated wavefunction methods such as CCSD(T) for crystalline materials in the thermodynamic limit. With computational efficiency established, the remaining challenge lies in extending the theoretical framework beyond purely electronic degrees of freedom. Chapter 4 addresses this need by establishing exponential ansatz wavefunctions as competitive approaches for electron-phonon systems. Unlike previous treatments based on perturbation theory, systematic benchmarking of coupled cluster theory and variational Lang-Firsov methods on the Holstein model demonstrates, for the first time, that these approaches accurately describe polaron formation across coupling regimes when combined with appropriate reference state optimization. These results provide a foundation for incorporating phonon effects into ab initio studies of superconducting materials. In addition to these methodological advances, GPU acceleration and MPI parallelization enhance computational throughput, enabling efficient large-scale calculations. Together, these developments constitute a computational framework for predictive ab initio quantum many-body calculations in crystalline materials, opening new avenues for understanding and designing strongly correlated quantum materials.
Quantum many-body calculation methods, including exact diagonalization, quantum Monte Carlo, density matrix and tensor renormalization, and dynamic mean field theory, as well as emerging methods harnessing the power of artificial intelligence and quantum computing, can be used to accurately and efficiently calculate the physical properties of correlated quantum many-body systems. The quantum particles in the interacting, non-perturbative many-body system are highly entangled, and the mean field theory often lacks sufficient accuracy or may even break down for certain problems. It is thus very necessary to develop new methods for studying the exotic states and emergent phenomena in correlated systems, such as high-temperature superconductivity and frustrated quantum magnetism. Recently, the rapid progress in the field of many-body calculation has shown the characteristics of interdisciplinary cross, and there is increasingly significant interplay and integration with machine learning, materials science, quantum simulation and computation, among other fields. This paper outlines the brief history of many-body calculations, major approaches and their current status, as well as main challenges in this field.
The central problem in the modern electronic structure theory is the calculation of cor- relation energy, possibly by an approach that would account for both static and dynamic correlation in an efficient, balanced and accurate way. In this thesis, I present a collection of methods that combine the effective treatment of dynamic correlation by the coupled cluster theory with density matrix renormalization group, a well-established technique for calculations of strongly correlated systems. The connection between them is achieved via the tailored coupled clusters (TCC) ansatz, which conveniently does not impose any ad- ditional computational costs. After the successful initial assessment, we developed more efficient implementations of these methods by employing the local approaches based on pair natural orbitals. This way, we extended the range of possible applications to larger systems with thousands of basis functions. To assess the accuracy of TCC as well as its local counterparts, we performed a variety of benchmark calculations ranging from small, yet challenging systems such as the nitrogen molecule or tetramethyleneethane diradical, to larger molecules like oxo-Mn(Salen) or Fe(II)-porphyrin model. 1