We present a new continuous-time solver for quantum impurity models such as those relevant to dynamical mean field theory. It is based on a stochastic sampling of a perturbation expansion in the impurity-bath hybridization parameter. Comparisons with Monte Carlo and exact diagonalization calculations confirm the accuracy of the new approach, which allows very efficient simulations even at low temperatures and for strong interactions. As examples of the power of the method we present results for the temperature dependence of the kinetic energy and the free energy, enabling an accurate location of the temperature-driven metal-insulator transition.
We present a new continuous-time solver for quantum impurity models such as those relevant to dynamical mean field theory. It is based on a stochastic sampling of a perturbation expansion in the impurity-bath hybridization parameter. Comparisons with Monte Carlo and exact diagonalization calculations confirm the accuracy of the new approach, which allows very efficient simulations even at low temperatures and for strong interactions. As examples of the power of the method we present results for the temperature dependence of the kinetic energy and the free energy, enabling an accurate location of the temperature-driven metal-insulator transition.
We present a very efficient solver for the general Anderson impurity problem. It is based on the perturbation around a solution obtained from exact diagonalization, using a small number of bath sites. We formulate a perturbation theory which is valid for both weak and strong coupling and interpolates between these limits. Good agreement with numerically exact quantum Monte Carlo results is found for a single bath site over a wide range of parameters. In particular, the Kondo resonance in the intermediate-coupling regime is well reproduced for a single bath site and the lowest-order correction. The method is particularly suited for low temperatures, alleviates analytical continuation of imaginary time data due to the absence of statistical noise and can be generalized to obtain dynamical quantities directly on the real axis.
We present a very efficient solver for the general Anderson impurity problem. It is based on the perturbation around a solution obtained from exact diagonalization, using a small number of bath sites. We formulate a perturbation theory which is valid for both weak and strong coupling and interpolates between these limits. Good agreement with numerically exact quantum Monte Carlo results is found for a single bath site over a wide range of parameters. In particular, the Kondo resonance in the intermediate-coupling regime is well reproduced for a single bath site and the lowest-order correction. The method is particularly suited for low temperatures, alleviates analytical continuation of imaginary time data due to the absence of statistical noise and can be generalized to obtain dynamical quantities directly on the real axis.
The simulation of strongly correlated quantum impurity models is a significant challenge in modern condensed matter physics that has multiple important applications. Thus far, the most successful methods for approaching this challenge involve Monte Carlo techniques that accurately and reliably sample perturbative expansions to any order. However, the cost of obtaining high precision through these methods is high. Recently, tensor train decomposition techniques have been developed as an alternative to Monte Carlo integration. In this study, we apply these techniques to the single-impurity Anderson model at equilibrium by calculating the systematic expansion in power of the hybridization of the impurity with the bath. We demonstrate the performance of the method in a paradigmatic application, examining the first-order phase transition on the infinite-dimensional Bethe lattice, which can be mapped to an impurity model through dynamical mean field theory. Our results indicate that using tensor train decomposition schemes allows the calculation of finite-temperature Green's functions and thermodynamic observables with unprecedented accuracy. The methodology holds promise for future applications to frustrated multiorbital systems, using a combination of partially summed series with other techniques pioneered in diagrammatic and continuous time quantum Monte Carlo.
This chapter, like the previous one, describes quantum Monte Carlo methods for the simulation of a system of interacting electrons at nonzero temperature. Here, we target a particular class of problems, characterized by a small number of correlated sites or orbitals, that we call impurity problems. While we could apply the methods of the previous chapter to such impurity models, the algorithms discussed here are more advantageous not only because they work in continuous imaginary time and hence lack the Trotter approximation error inherent to the previous methods, but also because they manipulate determinants of matrices of smaller size, which can be handled more efficiently. At the same time, the continuous-time approach is applicable to broader classes of impurity problems. Driving the development of these continuous-time impurity solvers was the desire to perform more efficient simulations of correlated lattice models within the framework of dynamical mean-field theory. This formalism maps the lattice problem onto an impurity problem, whose parameters are determined by a self-consistency condition. In some cases, the self-consistent solution gives a good approximation of the properties of the original lattice problem. When we combine this dynamical mean-field approximation with the local-density approximation for electronic structure calculations, we obtain a powerful scheme for electronic structure calculations of strongly correlated materials. In this chapter we discuss the most important classes of impurity models, sketch the basics of the dynamical mean-field approximation, and detail the different variants of continuous-time impurity solvers. Quantum impurity models A quantum impurity model describes an atom or molecule embedded in some host with which it exchanges electrons, spin, and energy. This exchange allows the impurity to make transitions between different quantum states, and in the presence of interactions within or between the impurity orbitals, these transitions lead to nontrivial dynamical properties. Quantum impurity models play a prominent role, for example, in the theoretical description of the magnetic and electric properties of dilute metal alloys and in theoretical studies of quantum dots and molecular conductors. These models also appear as an auxiliary problem whose solution yields the dynamical mean-field description of correlated lattice models.
Simulating nonequilibrium quantum many-body systems remains a major challenge due to the exponential growth of the computational complexity with real time. Here we implement a nonequilibrium impurity solver based on the weak-coupling expansion and the tensor cross interpolation (TCI), and apply it to nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT). The method approximates the integrands of the high-dimensional integrals arising in the weak-coupling expansion in a tensor-train form, enabling efficient evaluations without stochastic sampling and thereby mitigating the sign problem affecting continuous-time quantum Monte Carlo (CT-QMC) methods. Benchmark calculations for an exactly solvable nonequilibrium impurity model agree well with the exact results and reveal a low-rank structure of the integrands. When applied to interaction-quench problems in the half-filled Hubbard model, the method reproduces fast thermalization at a critical interaction strength with accuracy comparable to CT-QMC. Away from half filling, where the sign problem becomes even more severe, the present approach remains well controlled, revealing a crossover instead of a sharply defined fast thermalization point in the 3/4-filled case. The solver can also be applied to steady-state DMFT problems, yielding accurate spectral functions in the metallic regime without analytic continuation.
The solution of an auxiliary quantum impurity system is the computationally expensive step in dynamical mean field theory simulations of lattice models and materials. In this review, we discuss Monte Carlo based impurity solvers, which are suitable for a wide range of applications. In particular, we present an efficient implementation of the hybridization expansion approach, which enables the simulation of multiorbital impurity problems with off-diagonal and complex hybridizations, and dynamically screened (retarded) density-density interactions. As a complementary approach, we discuss an impurity solver based on the determinant Monte Carlo method, which scales favorably with inverse temperature and hence provides access to the very low temperature regime. The usefulness of these state-of-the-art impurity solvers is demonstrated with applications to the downfolding problem, i.e., the systematic derivation of dynamically screened interactions for low-energy effective models, and to pyrochlore iridates, where the spin-orbit coupling leads to complex hybridization functions in a multi-orbital system. As a benchmark for cluster extensions of dynamical mean field theory, we also present results from lattice Monte Carlo simulations for the momentum dependence of the pseudo-gap in the half-filled two-dimensional Hubbard model.