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Cambridge University Press eBooks

Tensor Network Ansatz of Wave Functions

Tao Xiang

Published Aug 31, 2023• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

This chapter introduces the tensor network ansatz for a quantum state whose entanglement entropy obeys the so-called area law with or without logarithmic corrections. This ansatz represents a quantum many-body wave function by a network product of local tensors defined on the lattice sites and treats all tensor elements as variational parameters. It includes, for example, one-dimensional matrix product states (MPS) and two-dimensional projected entangled pair states (PEPS) or projected entangled simplex states (PESS). A typical example is the spin-1 AKLT chain, whose ground state can be exactly represented as an MPS. If a logarithmic correction to the entanglement area law emerges, a tensor network state termed the multi-scale entanglement renormalization ansatz (MERA) describes the entanglement structure of the ground state more accurately in one dimension.

DOI
10.1017/9781009398671.006

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This chapter introduces the tensor network ansatz for a quantum state whose entanglement entropy obeys the so-called area law with or without logarithmic corrections. This ansatz represents a quantum many-body wave function by a network product of local tensors defined on the lattice sites and treats all tensor elements as variational parameters. It includes, for example, one-dimensional matrix product states (MPS) and two-dimensional projected entangled pair states (PEPS) or projected entangled simplex states (PESS). A typical example is the spin-1 AKLT chain, whose ground state can be exactly represented as an MPS. If a logarithmic correction to the entanglement area law emerges, a tensor network state termed the multi-scale entanglement renormalization ansatz (MERA) describes the entanglement structure of the ground state more accurately in one dimension.
In this thesis, we use the new numerical method multiscale entanglement renormalization ansatz (MERA) to study the one dimensional spin system. This method, MERA, utilizes a network of tensors to represent quantum many-body systems on a lattice. Other examples of tensor network state are matrix product states (MPSs) for 1D systems, tree tensor networks (TTNs) for systems with a tree shape, and projected entangled-pair states (PEPSs) for 2D systems and be- yond. The three structures dier in the graph that denes how the tensors are interconnected into a network: The graphs for MPSs, TTNs, and 2D PEPSs are, respectively, a chain, a tree, and a 2D lattice. Importantly, from these tensor networks the expectation value of local observables can be computed eciently. Developing algorithms to simulate quantum many-body systems is important for understanding and studying the physical principles. And these may become powerful tools for the analysis of quantum computation and quantum information theory. But in general ecient simulation is dicult, due to the fundamental quantum physical laws. The main method we have studied and worked on is multiscale entangle- ment renormalization ansatz (MERA) which is a variational ansatz for many- body states. MERA is a tree tensor network for 1D, 2D systems and beyond. We have developed code of ternary-MERA to compute the ground state energy, expected values of local observables, and correlators for 1D lattice systems. In a nutshell, MERA is an algorithm for entanglement renormalization which is a numerical technique based on locally reorganizing the Hilbert space of a quantum many-body system with the aim to reduce the amount of entanglement in its wave function. We use this method to study 1D Ising model, XXZ model, and J1 - J2 model, and then comparing the numerical results with exact diagonalization (ED) and density matrix renormalization group (DMRG).
This chapter is to introduce some basic definitions and concepts of TN Tensor network (TN) . We will show that the TN can be used to represent quantum many-body states, where we explain MPS Matrix product state (MPS) in 1D and PEPS Projected entangled pair state (PEPS) in 2D systems, as well as the generalizations to thermal states and operators. The quantum entanglement properties of the TN states including the area law of entanglement entropy will also be discussed. Finally, we will present several special TNs that can be exactly contracted, and demonstrate the difficulty of contracting TNs in general cases.
By taking inspiration from the backflow transformation for correlated systems, we introduce a tensor network Ansatz which extends the well-established matrix product state representation of a quantum many-body wave function. This structure provides enough resources to ensure that states in dimensions larger than or equal to one obey an area law for entanglement. It can be efficiently manipulated to address the ground-state search problem by means of an optimization scheme which mixes tensor-network and variational Monte Carlo algorithms. We benchmark the Ansatz against spin models both in one and two dimensions, demonstrating high accuracy and precision. We finally employ our approach to study the challenging S=1/2S=1/2S=1/2 two-dimensional (2D) ${J}_{1}\text{\ensuremath{-}}{J}_{2}$ model, demonstrating that it is competitive with the state-of-the-art methods in 2D.
In this thesis we will summarise recent developments in tensor network methods and extend results for entanglement entropy using cMERA in Lifshitz field theories. After a brief recounting of the important aspects of entanglement entropy we will present a description of pertinent tensor networks. This will include both matrix product states (MPS) and the multi-scale entanglement renormalisation ansatz (MERA). We will recount previous area law results for the entanglement entropy in these ansatze. Following this we will continue to discuss MERA and in particular its continuous realisation (cMERA). Finally we apply this cMERA framework to free field theories and extend known results to the case of field theories with anisotropic scaling, that is, Lifshitz field theories. In particular we find a new result for the entanglement entropy of fermionic theories with anisotropic scaling.
Classical simulation of quantum many-body systems is a fundamental challenge due to their exponentially large Hilbert spaces. Tensor network states are a powerful ansatz to efficiently represent many physically relevant quantum states. A key question is the bond dimension—which determines the number of parameters in the ansatz—required to approximate all local properties to accuracy δ. In one dimension, we prove that an area law for the Rényi entanglement entropyRαwith index αRα(αeO(1/δ). In both one and two dimensions, analogous results are obtained for states with logarithmic corrections to the area law. These findings rigorously justify the common practice of using a system-size-independent bond dimension in tensor network simulations.
It is commonly believed that area laws for entanglement entropies imply that a quantum many-body state can be faithfully represented by efficient tensor network states - a conjecture frequently stated in the context of numerical simulations and analytical considerations. In this work, we show that this is in general not the case, except in one dimension. We prove that the set of quantum many-body states that satisfy an area law for all Renyi entropies contains a subspace of exponential dimension. Establishing a novel link between quantum many-body theory and the theory of communication complexity, we then show that there are states satisfying area laws for all Renyi entropies but cannot be approximated by states with a classical description of small Kolmogorov complexity, including polynomial projected entangled pair states (PEPS) or states of multi-scale entanglement renormalisation (MERA). Not even a quantum computer with post-selection can efficiently prepare all quantum states fulfilling an area law, and we show that not all area law states can be eigenstates of local Hamiltonians. We also prove translationally invariant and isotropic instances of these results, and show a variation with decaying correlations using quantum error-correcting codes.