We propose a series-expansion thermal tensor network (SETTN) approach for efficient simulations of quantum lattice models. This continuous-time SETTN method is based on the numerically exact Taylor series expansion of the equilibrium density operator ${e}^{\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\beta}H}$ (with
H the total Hamiltonian and $\ensuremath{\beta}$ the imaginary time), and is thus Trotter-error free. We discover, through simulating XXZ spin chain and square-lattice quantum Ising models, that not only the Hamiltonian
H, but also its powers
Hn, can be efficiently expressed as matrix product operators, which enables us to calculate with high precision the equilibrium and dynamical properties of quantum lattice models at finite temperatures. Our SETTN method provides an alternative to conventional Trotter-Suzuki renormalization-group (RG) approaches, and achieves a very high standard of thermal RG simulations in terms of accuracy and flexibility.
We provide an efficient approximation for the exponential of a local operator in quantum spin systems using tensor-network representations of a cluster expansion. We benchmark this cluster tensor network operator (cluster TNO) for one-dimensional systems, and show that the approximation works well for large real- or imaginary-time steps. We use this formalism for representing the thermal density operator of a two-dimensional quantum spin system at a certain temperature as a single cluster TNO, which we can then contract by standard contraction methods for two-dimensional tensor networks. We apply this approach to the thermal phase transition of the transverse-field Ising model on the square lattice, and we find through a scaling analysis that the cluster-TNO approximation gives rise to a continuous phase transition in the correct universality class; by increasing the order of the cluster expansion we find good values of the critical point up to surprisingly low temperatures.
We provide an efficient approximation for the exponential of a local operator in quantum spin systems using tensor-network representations of a cluster expansion. We benchmark this cluster tensor network operator (cluster TNO) for one-dimensional systems, and show that the approximation works well for large real- or imaginary-time steps. We use this formalism for representing the thermal density operator of a two-dimensional quantum spin system at a certain temperature as a single cluster TNO, which we can then contract by standard contraction methods for two-dimensional tensor networks. We apply this approach to the thermal phase transition of the transverse-field Ising model on the square lattice, and we find through a scaling analysis that the cluster-TNO approximation gives rise to a continuous phase transition in the correct universality class; by increasing the order of the cluster expansion we find good values of the critical point up to surprisingly low temperatures.