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Real-space renormalization group methods in the age of tensor network states

Matthias Bal

Published Jan 1, 2018• 1 citation
OpenAlex

Abstract

This dissertation contributes to the ongoing effort of understanding the origins and applications of real-space renormalization group methods in tensor network representations of classical and quantum many-body systems. First, we construct a matrix product operator ansatz to coarse-grain real-space transfer matrices of matrix product state descriptions of one-dimensional quantum spin chains. By treating the physical spin as an impurity, we unravel the virtual entanglement degrees of freedom of matrix product states into a layered structure to reveal an inherent renormalization group scale. Secondly, we rephrase tensor network renormalization for two-dimensional classical lattice models in a manifestly nonnegative way. The resulting real-space renormalization group flow preserves positivity and hence yields an interpretation in terms of Hamiltonian flows, reconciling modern real-space tensor network renormalization methods with traditional block-spin approaches. Thirdly, we study non-local symmetries in tensor networks by expressing two-dimensional classical partition functions in terms of strange correlators of judiciously chosen product states and string-net wave functions. We exhibit and exploit the emerging non-local symmetries of the partition function at criticality and highlight parallels between topological sectors and conformal primary fields in the shared framework of matrix product operator symmetries. Additionally, we provide a complementary perspective on real-space renormalization by recognizing known tensor network renormalization methods as the approximate truncation of an exactly coarse-grained strange correlator.

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The study of the ground states of local Hamiltonians in quantum many-body and quantum field theoretic systems is a source of many research problems of great complexity. Almost in its entirety, this thesis deals with constructions related to the field of tensor networks, which are efficient parametrizations of mathematical objects from quantum many-body theory (such as quantum states and operators) that exploit our knowledge of their entanglement structures in order to obtain improvements in our computational abilities. In the past decade, the new research program of continuous tensor networks has arisen with the goal of reproducing, in the setting of quantum field theory, the success that tensor network techniques have enjoyed on the lattice. First, we present a number of results from research performed on non-interacting examples of the continuous Multiscale Entanglement Renormalization Ansatz, or cMERA, a continuous tensor network that provides a variational wavefunctional for a quantum field theoretic ground state. Initially, we study the correlations and entanglement structure of cMERA states, providing evidence that such states can be interpreted as UV regularized versions of the physical states they approximate. After that, we study what modifications of the formalism are necessary in order to consider systems with gauge symmetry, or in the presence of boundaries and defects. We obtain prescriptions for the treatment of these cases which, we expect, may also hold in the interacting setting. We then abandon briefly the area of continuous tensor networks to present a piece of research within a different though related research program: that of the study of manifestations of universal emergent behaviour in critical lattice systems. In particular we bring attention to the existence of an approximate representation of the Virasoro algebra supported on the eigenvectors of the reduced density matrices of critical lattice systems. We call this the entanglement algebra, and study its accuracy in the particular case of the Ising model. Lastly, we present a proposal for a continuous version of the Tensor Network Renormalization (TNR) algorithm, which we dub continuous TNR, or cTNR. cTNR operates on UV regularized classical partition functions or quantum Euclidean path integrals, and generates a real-space renormalization group flow via continuous coarse-graining and rescaling operations. We show that a UV regularized version of the free boson path integral can be made a fixed point of such a renormalization flow, in a way that allows for recovery of the conformal data associated to the free boson conformal field theory.

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A renormalization group flow of Hamiltonians for two-dimensional classical partition functions is constructed using tensor networks. Similar to tensor network renormalization [G. Evenbly and G. Vidal, Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 180405 (2015)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.115.180405; S. Yang, Z.-C. Gu, and X.-G. Wen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 110504 (2017)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.118.110504], we obtain approximate fixed point tensor networks at criticality. Our formalism, however, preserves positivity of the tensors at every step and hence yields an interpretation in terms of Hamiltonian flows. We emphasize that the key difference between tensor network approaches and Kadanoff's spin blocking method can be understood in terms of a change of the local basis at every decimation step, a property which is crucial to overcome the area law of mutual information. We derive algebraic relations for fixed point tensors, calculate critical exponents, and benchmark our method on the Ising model and the six-vertex model.

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We introduce a coarse-graining transformation for tensor networks that can be applied to study both the partition function of a classical statistical system and the Euclidean path integral of a quantum many-body system. The scheme is based upon the insertion of optimized unitary and isometric tensors (disentanglers and isometries) into the tensor network and has, as its key feature, the ability to remove short-range entanglement or correlations at each coarse-graining step. Removal of short-range entanglement results in scale invariance being explicitly recovered at criticality. In this way we obtain a proper renormalization group flow (in the space of tensors), one that in particular (i) is computationally sustainable, even for critical systems, and (ii) has the correct structure of fixed points, both at criticality and away from it. We demonstrate the proposed approach in the context of the 2D classical Ising model.

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Continuous Tensor Networks, Conformal Field Theory and Holography

Qi Ping Hu

Tensor network methods are playing a central role in multiple disciplines of modern quantum physics, such as condensed matter physics, quantum information and quantum gravity. Based on renormalization group (RG) ideas, they provide a large class of variational ansatz for quantum many-body systems. There are various tensor network structures which are suited for different systems based on their entanglement structures, such as matrix product states (MPS), projected entangled pair states (PEPS), multi-scale entanglement renormalization ansatz (MERA). Numerous techniques involving coarse-graining tensor networks have been developed, such as tensor renormalization group (TRG), tensor network renormalization (TNR) and its variants. \n \nFirst, we study the generalization of MERA to continuous systems, or cMERA, which is expected to become a powerful variational ansatz for the ground state of strongly interacting quantum field theories. We investigate, in the simpler context of Gaussian cMERA for free theories, the extent to which the cMERA state $\\ket{\\Psi^{\\cM}}$ with finite UV cut-off $\\Lambda$ can capture the spacetime symmetries of the ground state $\\ket{\\Psi}$. For a free boson conformal field theory (CFT) in 1+1 dimensions as a concrete example, we build a quasi-local unitary transformation $V$ that maps $\\ket{\\Psi}$ into $\\ket{\\Psi^{\\cM}}$ and show two main results. (i) Any spacetime symmetry of the ground state $\\ket{\\Psi}$ is also mapped by $V$ into a spacetime symmetry of the cMERA $\\ket{\\Psi^{\\cM}}$. However, while in the CFT the stress-energy tensor $T_{\\mu\\nu}(x)$ (in terms of which all the spacetime symmetry generators are expressed) is local, the corresponding cMERA stress-energy tensor $T_{\\mu\\nu}^{\\cM}(x) = V T_{\\mu\\nu}(x) V^{\\dagger}$ is quasi-local. (ii) From the cMERA, we can extract quasi-local scaling operators $O^{\\cM}_{\\alpha}(x)$ characterized by the exact same scaling dimensions $\\Delta_{\\alpha}$, conformal spins $s_{\\alpha}$, operator product expansion coefficients $C_{\\alpha\\beta\\gamma}$, and central charge $c$ as the original CFT. We argue that these results should also apply to interacting theories. \n \nSecond we extend TNR to field theories in the continuum. A short-distance length scale $1/\\Lambda$ is introduced in the continuum partition function by smearing the fields. The resulting object is still defined in the continuum but has no fluctuations at distances shorter than $1/\\Lambda$. An infinitesimal coarse-graining step is then generated by the combined action of a \\textit{rescaling} operator $\\mathfrak{L}$ and a \\textit{disentangling} operator $\\mathfrak{K}$ that implements a quasilocal field redefinition. As demonstrated for a free boson in two dimensions, continuous TNR exactly preserves translation and rotation symmetries and can generate a proper RG flow. Moreover, from a critical fixed point of this RG flow one can then extract the conformal data of the underlying conformal field theory. \n \nLeaving behind tensor network methods, we explore the universal structure that emerges from the eigenvectors of the reduced density matrix (RDM) for 1+1 dimensional critical lattice systems. Using the Ising model as an example, we demonstrate that the large-weight eigenvectors are related to the low-lying states of the underlying CFT with suitable boundary conditions by a conformal map, and they transform accordingly under the Virasoro generators. \n \nFinally, using the quantum renormalization group (QRG), we derive the bulk geometry that emerges in the holographic dual of the fermionic U($N$) vector model at a nonzero charge density. The obstruction that prohibits the metallic state from being smoothly deformable to the direct product state under the renormalization group flow gives rise to a horizon at a finite radial coordinate in the bulk. The region outside the horizon is described by the Lifshitz geometry with a higher-spin hair determined by microscopic details of the boundary theory. On the other hand, the interior of the horizon is not described by any Riemannian manifold, as it exhibits an algebraic non-locality. The non-local structure inside the horizon carries the information on the shape of the filled Fermi sea.

•Jul 23, 2020•0 citations
This dissertation contributes to the ongoing effort of understanding the origins and applications of real-space renormalization group methods in tensor network representations of classical and quantum many-body systems. First, we construct a matrix product operator ansatz to coarse-grain real-space transfer matrices of matrix product state descriptions of one-dimensional quantum spin chains. By treating the physical spin as an impurity, we unravel the virtual entanglement degrees of freedom of matrix product states into a layered structure to reveal an inherent renormalization group scale. Secondly, we rephrase tensor network renormalization for two-dimensional classical lattice models in a manifestly nonnegative way. The resulting real-space renormalization group flow preserves positivity and hence yields an interpretation in terms of Hamiltonian flows, reconciling modern real-space tensor network renormalization methods with traditional block-spin approaches. Thirdly, we study non-local symmetries in tensor networks by expressing two-dimensional classical partition functions in terms of strange correlators of judiciously chosen product states and string-net wave functions. We exhibit and exploit the emerging non-local symmetries of the partition function at criticality and highlight parallels between topological sectors and conformal primary fields in the shared framework of matrix product operator symmetries. Additionally, we provide a complementary perspective on real-space renormalization by recognizing known tensor network renormalization methods as the approximate truncation of an exactly coarse-grained strange correlator.
The study of the ground states of local Hamiltonians in quantum many-body and quantum field theoretic systems is a source of many research problems of great complexity. Almost in its entirety, this thesis deals with constructions related to the field of tensor networks, which are efficient parametrizations of mathematical objects from quantum many-body theory (such as quantum states and operators) that exploit our knowledge of their entanglement structures in order to obtain improvements in our computational abilities. In the past decade, the new research program of continuous tensor networks has arisen with the goal of reproducing, in the setting of quantum field theory, the success that tensor network techniques have enjoyed on the lattice. First, we present a number of results from research performed on non-interacting examples of the continuous Multiscale Entanglement Renormalization Ansatz, or cMERA, a continuous tensor network that provides a variational wavefunctional for a quantum field theoretic ground state. Initially, we study the correlations and entanglement structure of cMERA states, providing evidence that such states can be interpreted as UV regularized versions of the physical states they approximate. After that, we study what modifications of the formalism are necessary in order to consider systems with gauge symmetry, or in the presence of boundaries and defects. We obtain prescriptions for the treatment of these cases which, we expect, may also hold in the interacting setting. We then abandon briefly the area of continuous tensor networks to present a piece of research within a different though related research program: that of the study of manifestations of universal emergent behaviour in critical lattice systems. In particular we bring attention to the existence of an approximate representation of the Virasoro algebra supported on the eigenvectors of the reduced density matrices of critical lattice systems. We call this the entanglement algebra, and study its accuracy in the particular case of the Ising model. Lastly, we present a proposal for a continuous version of the Tensor Network Renormalization (TNR) algorithm, which we dub continuous TNR, or cTNR. cTNR operates on UV regularized classical partition functions or quantum Euclidean path integrals, and generates a real-space renormalization group flow via continuous coarse-graining and rescaling operations. We show that a UV regularized version of the free boson path integral can be made a fixed point of such a renormalization flow, in a way that allows for recovery of the conformal data associated to the free boson conformal field theory.
Tensor networks are a class of methods for studying many-body systems. They give a geometrical description of the internal structure of many-body states, operators, and partition functions, that can be used to implement efficient algorithms to simulate them numerically. In this thesis, after providing a very brief overview of the field, we present new tensor network methods for three different use cases. \n \nFirst, we present a new real-space renormalization group algorithm for tensor networks. Compared to existing methods, its advantages are its low computational cost, simplicity of implementation, and applicability to any network. We benchmark it on the 2D classical Ising model and find accuracy comparable with the best existing tensor network methods. Due to its simplicity and generalizability, we consider our algorithm to be an excellent candidate for implementation of real-space renormalization in higher dimensions, and discuss some of the details and the remaining challenges in 3D. \n \nSecond, we show how certain topological conformal defects of critical lattice theories can be represented as tensor networks, using the 2D classical Ising model as an example. Furthermore, we show how such tensor network descriptions, combined with a renormalization group algorithm, can be used to obtain accurate estimates of the universal properties of these defects. We also show how coarse-graining of defects can be applied to any conformal defect (i.e. not just topological ones), and yields a set of associated scaling dimensions. \n \nFinally, we leave behind the focus on renormalization group methods, and present a method for spatially resolving the overlap between two tensor network states, to obtain localized information about the similarities and differences between them. For a given region, the similarity of two states in this region can be quantified by the Uhlmann fidelity of their reduced density matrices, and we show how such fidelities can be efficiently computed in many cases when the two states are represented as tensor networks. We demonstrate the usefulness of evaluating such subsystem fidelities with three example applications: studying local quenches, comparing critical and non-critical states, and quantifying convergence in tensor network simulations.
A renormalization group flow of Hamiltonians for two-dimensional classical partition functions is constructed using tensor networks. Similar to tensor network renormalization [G. Evenbly and G. Vidal, Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 180405 (2015)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.115.180405; S. Yang, Z.-C. Gu, and X.-G. Wen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 110504 (2017)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.118.110504], we obtain approximate fixed point tensor networks at criticality. Our formalism, however, preserves positivity of the tensors at every step and hence yields an interpretation in terms of Hamiltonian flows. We emphasize that the key difference between tensor network approaches and Kadanoff's spin blocking method can be understood in terms of a change of the local basis at every decimation step, a property which is crucial to overcome the area law of mutual information. We derive algebraic relations for fixed point tensors, calculate critical exponents, and benchmark our method on the Ising model and the six-vertex model.
On the lattice, a renormalization group (RG) flow for two-dimensional partition functions expressed as a tensor network can be obtained using the tensor network renormalization (TNR) algorithm [G. Evenbly, G. Vidal, Phys. Rev. Lett. 115 (18), 180405 (2015)]. In this work we explain how to extend TNR to field theories in the continuum. First, a short-distance length scale 1/Λ1/Λ1/Λ is introduced in the continuum partition function by smearing the fields. The resulting object is still defined in the continuum but has no fluctuations at distances shorter than 1/Λ1/Λ1/Λ. An infinitesimal coarse-graining step is then generated by the combined action of a rescalingrescalingrescaling operator LLL and a disentanglingdisentanglingdisentangling operator KKK that implements a quasi-local field redefinition. As demonstrated for a free boson in two dimensions, continuous TNR exactly preserves translation and rotation symmetries and can generate a proper RG flow. Moreover, from a critical fixed point of this RG flow one can then extract the conformal data of the underlying conformal field theory.
We introduce a coarse-graining transformation for tensor networks that can be applied to study both the partition function of a classical statistical system and the Euclidean path integral of a quantum many-body system. The scheme is based upon the insertion of optimized unitary and isometric tensors (disentanglers and isometries) into the tensor network and has, as its key feature, the ability to remove short-range entanglement or correlations at each coarse-graining step. Removal of short-range entanglement results in scale invariance being explicitly recovered at criticality. In this way we obtain a proper renormalization group flow (in the space of tensors), one that in particular (i) is computationally sustainable, even for critical systems, and (ii) has the correct structure of fixed points, both at criticality and away from it. We demonstrate the proposed approach in the context of the 2D classical Ising model.
Tensor network methods are playing a central role in multiple disciplines of modern quantum physics, such as condensed matter physics, quantum information and quantum gravity. Based on renormalization group (RG) ideas, they provide a large class of variational ansatz for quantum many-body systems. There are various tensor network structures which are suited for different systems based on their entanglement structures, such as matrix product states (MPS), projected entangled pair states (PEPS), multi-scale entanglement renormalization ansatz (MERA). Numerous techniques involving coarse-graining tensor networks have been developed, such as tensor renormalization group (TRG), tensor network renormalization (TNR) and its variants. \n \nFirst, we study the generalization of MERA to continuous systems, or cMERA, which is expected to become a powerful variational ansatz for the ground state of strongly interacting quantum field theories. We investigate, in the simpler context of Gaussian cMERA for free theories, the extent to which the cMERA state ketPsicM\\ket{\\Psi^{\\cM}}ketPsicM with finite UV cut-off Lambda\\LambdaLambda can capture the spacetime symmetries of the ground state ketPsi\\ket{\\Psi}ketPsi. For a free boson conformal field theory (CFT) in 1+1 dimensions as a concrete example, we build a quasi-local unitary transformation VVV that maps ketPsi\\ket{\\Psi}ketPsi into ketPsicM\\ket{\\Psi^{\\cM}}ketPsicM and show two main results. (i) Any spacetime symmetry of the ground state ketPsi\\ket{\\Psi}ketPsi is also mapped by VVV into a spacetime symmetry of the cMERA ketPsicM\\ket{\\Psi^{\\cM}}ketPsicM. However, while in the CFT the stress-energy tensor Tmunu(x)T_{\\mu\\nu}(x)Tmunu​(x) (in terms of which all the spacetime symmetry generators are expressed) is local, the corresponding cMERA stress-energy tensor TmunucM(x)=VTmunu(x)VdaggerT_{\\mu\\nu}^{\\cM}(x) = V T_{\\mu\\nu}(x) V^{\\dagger}TmunucM​(x)=VTmunu​(x)Vdagger is quasi-local. (ii) From the cMERA, we can extract quasi-local scaling operators OalphacM(x)O^{\\cM}_{\\alpha}(x)OalphacM​(x) characterized by the exact same scaling dimensions Deltaalpha\\Delta_{\\alpha}Deltaalpha​, conformal spins salphas_{\\alpha}salpha​, operator product expansion coefficients CalphabetagammaC_{\\alpha\\beta\\gamma}Calphabetagamma​, and central charge ccc as the original CFT. We argue that these results should also apply to interacting theories. \n \nSecond we extend TNR to field theories in the continuum. A short-distance length scale 1/Lambda1/\\Lambda1/Lambda is introduced in the continuum partition function by smearing the fields. The resulting object is still defined in the continuum but has no fluctuations at distances shorter than 1/Lambda1/\\Lambda1/Lambda. An infinitesimal coarse-graining step is then generated by the combined action of a \\textit{rescaling} operator mathfrakL\\mathfrak{L}mathfrakL and a \\textit{disentangling} operator mathfrakK\\mathfrak{K}mathfrakK that implements a quasilocal field redefinition. As demonstrated for a free boson in two dimensions, continuous TNR exactly preserves translation and rotation symmetries and can generate a proper RG flow. Moreover, from a critical fixed point of this RG flow one can then extract the conformal data of the underlying conformal field theory. \n \nLeaving behind tensor network methods, we explore the universal structure that emerges from the eigenvectors of the reduced density matrix (RDM) for 1+1 dimensional critical lattice systems. Using the Ising model as an example, we demonstrate that the large-weight eigenvectors are related to the low-lying states of the underlying CFT with suitable boundary conditions by a conformal map, and they transform accordingly under the Virasoro generators. \n \nFinally, using the quantum renormalization group (QRG), we derive the bulk geometry that emerges in the holographic dual of the fermionic U(NNN) vector model at a nonzero charge density. The obstruction that prohibits the metallic state from being smoothly deformable to the direct product state under the renormalization group flow gives rise to a horizon at a finite radial coordinate in the bulk. The region outside the horizon is described by the Lifshitz geometry with a higher-spin hair determined by microscopic details of the boundary theory. On the other hand, the interior of the horizon is not described by any Riemannian manifold, as it exhibits an algebraic non-locality. The non-local structure inside the horizon carries the information on the shape of the filled Fermi sea.