Quantum Basics¶
Hilbert space : \(\mathcal H = \mathbb C^{2^n}\)
wave function : \(\ket \phi\in \mathcal H\)
- a spin-\(\frac{1}{2}\) system, \(\mathcal H=\mathbb C^2\), \(\phi = \alpha\ket\uparrow+\beta \ket \downarrow\quad |\alpha|^2+|\beta|^2=1\)
- basic state : \(\ket\uparrow =\begin{bmatrix}1\\0\end{bmatrix}\quad \ket \downarrow =\begin{bmatrix}0\\1\end{bmatrix}\quad \ket \rightarrow=\frac{1}{\sqrt 2}\begin{bmatrix}1\\1\end{bmatrix}\)
pauli matrices : \(\sigma_x=\begin{bmatrix}0&1\\1&0\end{bmatrix}~\sigma_y=\begin{bmatrix}0&-i\\i&0\end{bmatrix}~\sigma_z = \begin{bmatrix}1&0\\0&-1\end{bmatrix}\)
- \(\sigma_i = \sigma_i^\dagger\) : Hermitian
- \(\sigma_i = \sigma_i^{-1}\) : involutory
- \(\sigma_i^2 = I\)
- \(|\sigma_i|=-1\) : determinant
- \(\text{Tr}(\sigma_i) = 0\) : trace
- \(\lambda = \pm1\) : eigen values, eigen vectors are positive negative axes in Bloch sphere
- \([\sigma_i,\sigma_j]=2i\epsilon_{ijk}\sigma_k\) : commutation, \(\epsilon_{ijk}\) : Levi-Civita symbol
- \(\{\sigma_i,\sigma_j\} = 2\delta_{ij}I\) : anti-commutation, \(\delta_{ij}\) : kronecker delta
Operators :
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spin operator : \(\hat S_x = \frac{\hbar}{2}\sigma_x\quad\hat S_y=\frac{\hbar}{2}\sigma_y\quad \hat S_z=\frac{\hbar}{2}\sigma_z\)
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spin pointing along direction \(\vec e =\begin{bmatrix}e_x,e_y,e_z\end{bmatrix}\) \(\vec e\cdot\hat {\vec S}=\frac{\hbar}{2}\begin{bmatrix}e_z&e_x-ie_y\\e_x+ie_y&-e_z\end{bmatrix}\)
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position operator : \(\hat q\ket {\psi(q)} = q\psi(q)\)
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momentum operator : \(\hat p = -i\hbar \frac{\text d}{\text d q}\)
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hamiltonian operator : \(\hat H = -\frac{\hbar^2}{2m}\nabla^2 + V\)
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kinetic operator : \(\hat T = \frac{\hat{(\vec p)}^2}{2m} = \frac{-i\hbar ^2}{2m}\nabla^2\)
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potential operator : \(\hat V = V\)
Schrödinger equation :\(i\hbar \partial_t \ket{\psi(t)}=\hat H\ket {\psi(t)}\)
- for stationary problem : \(\hat H \ket \psi = E\ket\psi\quad \psi(t)=e^{-iEt/\hbar}\ket {\psi(0)}\)
- external potential : \(i\hbar\partial_t\psi(\hat r)=-\frac{\hbar^2}{2m}\nabla^2\psi(\vec r)+V(\vec r)\psi(\vec r)\)
Notation
- \(\hat H\) Hamilton operator
- \(E\) energy of the system
- \(V\) potential
Example
- harmonic oscillator : \(\frac{1}{2}(\hat p^2+\hat q^2)\ket \psi = E \ket \psi\)
- \(V(\hat q) = \frac{1}{2}\hat q^2\)
- \(\psi(q)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2^nn!\sqrt{\hbar\pi}}}e^{-q^2/2}H_n\left(\frac{1}{\sqrt \hbar}q\right)\)
- \(E = \hbar (n+\frac{1}{2})\)
Density matrix : \(\hat \rho = \sum_{i,j}p_{i,j}\ket{\psi_i}\bra{\psi_j}\)
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purity of the system \(\text{Tr}(\hat \rho^2)\)
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for a pure state without noise : \(\hat \rho_{\text{pure}}=\ket\psi\bra\psi\)
Example
\(\hat\rho_{\rightarrow} = \ket{\rightarrow}\bra{\rightarrow}=\begin{bmatrix}\frac{1}{2}&\frac{1}{2}\\\frac{1}{2}&\frac{1}{2}\end{bmatrix}\)
\(\text{Tr}(\hat \rho_\rightarrow)=1\)
\(\hat \rho_{\uparrow\downarrow}= \ket{\uparrow}\bra{\downarrow}=\begin{bmatrix}\frac{1}{2}&0\\0&\frac{1}{2}\end{bmatrix}\)
\(\text{Tr}(\hat \rho_{\uparrow\downarrow})=\frac{1}{2}\)
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unitary time evolution : \(i\hbar \partial_t\hat\rho(t)=[\hat H,\hat\rho(t)]\)
-
thermal density matrix : \(\hat \rho_\beta = \frac{1}{\sum_i e^{-\beta E_i}}\sum_i e^{-\beta E_i}\ket i\bra i = \frac{1}{\text{Tr}(e^{-\beta \hat H})}e^{-\beta \hat H}\)
measurement : \(\bra \psi \hat A \ket \psi = \text{Tr}(\hat \rho \hat A)\)
- measure non commute operator : \([\hat A,\hat B]=i\hbar\Leftrightarrow \Delta A\cdot \Delta B \ge \frac{\hbar}{2}\)
Quantum 1-body problem¶
given \(V\) ,we want to know \(\psi\) according to Schrödinger equation \(-\frac{\hbar^2}{2m}\partial_x^2\psi(x)+V(x)\psi(x)=E\psi(x)\)
Time-Independent 1 D Schrödinger equation¶
stationary assumption : \(\psi(t)=e^{-iEt/\hbar}\ket {\psi(0)}\) $$ -\frac{\hbar2}{2m}\nabla2\psi(x) + V(x)\psi(x) = E\psi(x) \to H\psi(x) = E\psi(x) $$
for special form $$ \psi''(x) + \frac{2m}{\hbar^2}\left(E-V(x)\right)\psi(x) = 0 $$
given \(V,m,E\) we want to know \(\psi\)
Numerov algorithm $$ \begin{aligned} \left(1+\frac{(\Delta x)^2}{12}k_{n+1}\right)\psi_{n+1} &= 2\left(1-\frac{5(\Delta x)^2}{12}k_n\right)\psi_n - \left(1+\frac{(\Delta x)^2}{12}k_{n-1}\right)\psi_{n-1} + O[(\Delta x)^6] \ k &= \frac{2m}{\hbar^2}(E-V(x)) \end{aligned} $$
- initial problem for symmetry \(V(x)=V(-x)\)
- \(\psi(x)=-\psi(x)\) : half integer mesh with \(\psi(-\frac{1}{2}\Delta x) = \psi(\frac{1}{2}\Delta x) = 1\)
- \(\psi(-x) = -\psi(x)\) : integer mesh with \(\psi(0) = 0 \quad \psi(\Delta x) = 1\)
- general \(V(x)=0\) for \(|x|\ge a\)
- \(\psi(-a-\Delta x) = \text{exp}(-\Delta x\sqrt {-2mE}/\hbar)\quad \psi(-a)=1\)
1D scattering problem
a particle approaching the potential barrier \(V(x)\begin{cases} \neq 0 & x\in[0,a]\\ = 0 & \text{others} \end{cases}\) from the left

-
wave function assumptions :
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left (\(x<0\)) wave function : \(\psi_L(x) = \underbrace{Ae^{iqx}}_{\text{origin wave}}+\underbrace{Be^{-iqx}}_{\text{reflection}}\)
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right (\(x>a\)) wave function : \(\psi_R(x) = \underbrace{Ce^{iqx}}_{\text{transmission}}\)
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where \(q\) is the wave number \(q^2 = \frac{2m[E-V(x)]}{\hbar^2}\)
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solution :
Algorithm
- set \(C=1\), use Numerov algorithm starting at \(a+\Delta x\) from right to left
- match the numerical solution on the left \(x<0\) to determine \(A\) and \(B\)
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probability :
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reflection probaility : \(R = \frac{|B|^2}{|A|^2}\)
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transition probability : \(T = \frac{|C|^2}{|A|^2}\)
Bound state
particles are confined due to potential \(V(x)\begin{cases}<0&x\in[0,a]\\= 0&\text{others}\end{cases}\)

- shooting method for eigen solver
Algorithm
- try a energy \(E\)
- use numerov algorithm from \(x=0\) to \(x_f\gg a\)
- satisfy \(\psi_E(x_f)\approx 0\) then \(E\) is a eigenvalue else try another \(E\)
- Improved Method - Integration from Both Sides
Algorithm
- try a position \(b\in (0,a)\) , that \(E=V(b)\), \(\frac{\partial^2 \psi_E}{\partial x^2} = 0\)
- use numerov from \(a\) to \(b\) as \(\psi_L\) and from \(0\) to \(b\) as \(\psi_R\)
- satisfy \(\frac{\psi'_L(b)}{\psi_L(b)}=\frac{\psi'_R(b)}{\psi_R(b)}\) (\(\psi_L,\psi_R\) are not normalized ), then \(E\) is a eigenvalue else try another \(b\)
Time-independent nD Schrödinger equation¶
Factorization techniques :
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along coordinate axes : \(\psi(\vec r) =\psi_x(x)\psi_y(y)\psi_z(z)\)
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spherical symmetry : \(\psi(\vec r) = \frac{u(r)}{r}Y_{lm}(\theta,\phi)\quad l\in\N_0,m\in\Z,|m|\le l\)
apply to the Schrodinger equation : \(\left(-\frac{\hbar^2}{2\mu}\nabla^2+\frac{\hbar^2l(l+1)}{2\mu r^2}+V(r)\right)u(r) = Eu(r)\)
Notation
- \(l\) : azimuthal quantum number, magnitude of the orbital angular momentum
- \(m\) : magnetic quantum number, projection of the angular momentum vector along a chosen axis
- \(\mu\) : mass
Solving methods :
- finite difference
Example : three dimensional Schrodinger $$ \nabla^2\psi(\vec r) + 2m[E-V(\vec r)]\psi(\vec r) = 0 \ \Downarrow \ \begin{aligned} 0 = \frac{1}{(\Delta x)^2}&[\psi(x_{n+1},y_n,z_n)+\psi(x_{n-1},y_n,z_n)\ &+\psi(x_n,y_{n+1},z_n)+\psi(x_n,y_{n-1},z_n)\ &+\psi(x_n,y_n,z_{n+1})+\psi(x_n,y_n,z_{n-1}) ]\ &+\left{ 2m[E-V(\vec r)]-\frac{6}{(\Delta x)^2} \right}\psi(x_n,y_n,z_n) \end{aligned} $$
- variational approaches : \(\ket \phi = \sum_i^N a_i\ket {u_i}\) $$ \braket{\phi}E^* = \bra \phi \hat H \ket \phi \to \underbrace{\bra{u_i}\ket{u_j}}{S}} E^* = \underbrace{\bra{u_i}\hat H\ket{u_j}{H \to U^\top HU\hat b = E^*\vec b $$}
more basis more accurate
Notation
- \(\ket{u_i}\) basis
- \(a_i\) : basis coefficient, \(\vec a = \begin{bmatrix}a_1,\cdots,a_n\end{bmatrix}^\top\)
- \(U\) : nomalization matrix for \(S\) that \(U^\top SU = I\)
- \(\vec b\) : eigen vector, \(\vec b = U^{-1}\vec a\)
-
finite element method
-
irregular geometries
- higher accuracy
Time dependent Schrödinger Equation¶
Spectral method :\(\ket{\psi_t} = \sum_n c_ne^{-i\varepsilon_n(t-t_0)/\hbar}\ket {\phi_n}\)
Algorithm
- eigen value \(\varepsilon_n\) and eigen vector \(\ket {\phi_n}\) for stationary problem \(\hat H\ket \phi = E\ket \phi\)
- represent initial wave function in eigen vectors \(\ket {\psi_0} = \sum_n c_n \ket{\phi_n}\)
- the evolution state \(\ket{\psi_t} = \sum_n c_ne^{-i\varepsilon_n(t-t_0)/\hbar}\ket {\phi_n}\)
limitations :
- the diagonalization of \(H\) is complex, so this method is only useful for small problems
Notation
- \(\ket {\phi_n}\) : eigenvector of \(H |ϕ⟩ = E |ϕ⟩\), \(\ket {\psi_0} = \sum c_n\ket{\phi_n}\)
- \(\varepsilon_n\) : eigenvalue of \(H |ϕ⟩ = E |ϕ⟩\)
Direct numerical integration : \(\left(\mathbb 1+ \frac{i\Delta t}{2\hbar}H\right)\psi(\vec r, t+\Delta t) = \left(\mathbb 1 - \frac{i\Delta t}{2\hbar}H\right)\psi(\vec r, t)\)
- forward euler : \(\ket {\psi(t_{n+1})}=\ket {\psi(t_n)} - \frac{i\Delta t}{\hbar}\hat H\ket{\psi(t_n)}\)
- numerically unstable
- violet conservation of \(\braket \phi\)
- implicit method : \(\left(\mathbb 1+ \frac{i\Delta t}{2\hbar}H\right)\psi(\vec r, t+\Delta t) = \left(\mathbb 1 - \frac{i\Delta t}{2\hbar}H\right)\psi(\vec r, t)\)
- \(H\) is sparse matrix, using iterative solver (e.g. biconjugate gradient)
Split-operator method : \(\psi(\vec q) \xrightleftharpoons[\mathcal F^{-1}]{\mathcal F}\psi(\vec p)\Rightarrow \hat H =\textcolor{cyan}{\hat T(\vec p)}+\textcolor{magenta}{\hat V(\vec q)}\) $$ e^{-i t\hat H /\hbar} = \textcolor{magenta}{e^{-i\Delta t\hat V/2\hbar}}\left[\textcolor{cyan}{e^{-i\Delta t\hat T/\hbar}}\textcolor{magenta}{e^{-i\Delta t\hat V/\hbar}} \right]{N-1}\textcolor{cyan}{e $$}}\textcolor{magenta}{e^{-i\Delta t\hat V/2\hbar}
Algorithm
- \(\textcolor{magenta}{\psi(\vec q)\gets e^{-i\Delta tV(\vec q)/2\hbar}\psi_0(\vec q)}\)
- loop N-1 timesteps
- \(\textcolor{cyan}{\psi(\vec p)} \overset{ \mathcal F}{\gets} \textcolor{magenta}{\psi(\vec q)}\)
- \(\textcolor{cyan}{\psi(\vec p) \gets e^{-i\Delta t \hbar\Vert\vec p\Vert^2/2m}\psi(\vec p)}\)
- \(\textcolor{magenta}{\psi(\vec q)} \overset{\mathcal F^{-1}}\gets \textcolor{cyan}{\psi(\vec p)}\)
- \(\textcolor{magenta}{\psi(\vec q)\gets e^{-i\Delta t V(\vec q)/\hbar}\psi(\vec q)}\)
- \(\textcolor{cyan}{\psi(\vec p)} \overset{\mathcal F}{\gets}\textcolor{magenta}{\psi(\vec q)}\)
- \(\textcolor{cyan}{\psi(\vec p) \gets e^{-i\Delta t \hbar\Vert\vec p\Vert^2/2m}\psi(\vec p)}\)
- \(\textcolor{magenta}{\psi(\vec q)} \overset{\mathcal F^{-1}}{\gets} \textcolor{cyan}{\psi(\vec p)}\)
- \(\textcolor{magenta}{\psi(\vec q)\gets e^{-i\Delta t V(\vec q)/2\hbar}}\)
Notation
- \(\vec p\) : momentum in hamilton expression
- \(\vec q\) : position in hamilton expression
- \(\hat T\) : kinetic operator , \(\hat T = \frac{\hat{(\vec p)}^2}{2m} = \frac{-i\hbar ^2}{2m}\nabla^2\)
- \(\hat V\) : potential operator , \(\hat V = V\)
- \(\mathcal F\) : fourier operator , \(\mathcal F \psi(\vec q) = \left(\frac{1}{\sqrt {2\pi}}\right)^d\int_{-\infin}^{+\infin}\psi(\vec q)e^{-i\vec p\cdot \vec q}\text d\vec q\)
- \(\mathcal F^{-1}\) : inverse fourier operator , \(\mathcal F^{-1} \psi(\vec p) = \left(\frac{1}{\sqrt {2\pi}}\right)^d\int_{-\infin}^{+\infin}\psi(\vec p)e^{-i\vec p\cdot \vec q}\text d\vec p\)
Quantum n-body problem¶
Hilbert space for n particles: \(\mathcal H^N = \mathcal H^{\otimes N}\)
Indistinguishable Particles¶
Bosons and Fermions :
-
fermions : \(\psi(\vec r_1,\vec r_2) = -\psi(\vec r_2, \vec r_1)\)
\[ \Psi^A = \mathcal N_A\sum_p\text{sign}(p)\psi(\vec r_{p(1)},\cdots,\vec r_{p(N)}) \]Notation
- \(\Psi^A\) : n particle fermions wave function
- \(\mathcal N_A\) : normalization factor
- \(p\) : permutation
- Pauli exclusion principle : \(\Psi^A(\vec r_1,\vec r_2) = \psi(\vec r_1,\vec r_2)-\psi(\vec r_2,\vec r_1) \neq 0\)
- spinful, generalized coordinate \(r=(\vec r, \sigma)\)
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bosons : \(\psi(\vec r_1, \vec r_2) = \psi(\vec r_2, \vec r_1)\)
\[ \Psi^{S} = \mathcal N_S\sum_p \psi(\vec r_{p(1)},\cdots,\vec r_{p(N)}) \]Notation
- \(\Psi^S\) : n particle bosons wave function
- \(\mathcal N_S\) : normalization factor
Fock space: \(\mathcal F = \bigoplus_{N=0}^\infin \mathcal S_{\pm}\mathcal H^N\)
possible particle configurations for a given type of particle
- \(\mathcal F = \underbrace{\mathcal F_0}_{\text{0 particles}} \oplus \underbrace{\mathcal F_1}_{\text{1 particles}} \oplus \cdots\)
Notation
- \(\oplus\) : direct sum, e.g. \(\textbf A \oplus \textbf B = \begin{bmatrix}\textbf A&\textbf 0\\\textbf 0 &\textbf B\end{bmatrix}\)
- \(S_\pm\) : symmetrization for bosons \(\mathcal S_+ =\mathcal N_S\sum_p\) / antisymmetrization operator for fermions \(\mathcal S_- = \mathcal N_A\sum_p\text{sgn(p)}\)
Example
Bosons Spinless Fermions Spinful Fermions Spin-\(\frac{1}{2}\) Fock space dimension \(\infin\)(bosons can take same position) \(2^N\) \(4^N\) \(2^N\)
Slater determinant :$ \Psi(r_1,\cdots,r_N) = \frac{1}{\sqrt {N!}}\left|\begin{matrix} \phi_1(r_1)&\cdots&\phi_N(r_1)\ \vdots & \ddots&\vdots\ \phi_r(r_N)&\cdots&\phi_N(r_N) \end{matrix}\right| $
anti-symmetrized and normalized \(N\) single particle wave function product
Notation
- \(\phi_i(r_j)\) : wave function of fermion \(i\) at position \(r_j\)
Creation and annihilation operators
-
\(\hat a\) annihilation operator : remove particle \(\hat a_i\ket {\phi_j} = \delta_{ij}\ket {0}\)
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\(\hat a^\dagger\) creation operator : add particle \(\ket{\phi_i} = \hat a_i^\dagger \ket {0}\)
Notation
- \(\ket {0}\) : vacuum state with no particles, \(\ket {0} = \begin{bmatrix}0\\0\end{bmatrix}\)
- \([\cdot,\cdot]\) : commute, \([A,B]=AB-BA\)
- \(\{\cdot,\cdot\}\) : anti-commute, \(\{A,B\}=AB+BA\)
-
Bosons : commute
-
\(\hat a_i\ket{n_i}=\sqrt{n_i}\ket{n_i-1} \quad \hat a_i^\dagger \ket {n_i} = \sqrt {n_i+1}\ket{n_i+1}\)
-
\(\hat a_i^\dagger\hat a_i = n_i\)
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\([\hat a_i, \hat a_j^\dagger] = \delta _{ij}\quad [\hat a_i, \hat a_j] = [\hat a_i^\dagger, \hat a_j^\dagger] = 0\)
-
\(0\underset{\hat a}{\not\leftarrow}\ket 0 \xrightleftharpoons[\hat a]{\hat a^\dagger}\ket 1\xrightleftharpoons[\hat a]{\hat a^\dagger}\ket 2\cdots\)
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Fermions : anti-commute
-
\(\hat c_{u_i}\ket{u_i,u_j,\cdots}=\ket{u_j,\cdots} \quad \hat c_{u_i}\ket{u_j,\cdots} = \ket{u_i,u_j,\cdots}\)
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\(\hat c_i^\dagger\hat c_i =\hat n_i\)
- \(n_i = 0\) : \(\hat c_i^\dagger\hat c_i\ket{u_j,\cdots} = 0\)
- \(n_i=1\) : \(\hat c_{u_i}^\dagger\hat c_{u_i}\ket{u_i,u_j,\cdots}=\ket{u_i,u_j,\cdots}\)
-
\(\{\hat c_i, \hat c_j^\dagger\} = \delta_{ij}\quad \{\hat c_i, \hat c_j\} = \{\hat c_i^\dagger, \hat c_j^\dagger\} = 0\)
-
\(0 \underset{\hat c^\dagger_{u_i}}{\not \leftarrow}\ket 0 \xrightleftharpoons[\hat c_{u_i}]{\hat c^\dagger_{u_i}}\ket {u_i}\overset{\hat c^\dagger_{u_i}}{\not\rightarrow} 0\)
Quantum Spin Model¶
(TFIM)Transverse field Ising model
$$
\hat H = \sum_{
- quantum phase transition between a spontaneously symmetry-broken and a disordered phase
- extension of the classical Ising model by adding a magnetic field in the \(x\) direction
Notation
- \(<ij>\) : connection between particle \(i\) and particle \(j\)
- \(J_{ij}\) : interacting constant between particle \(i\) and particle \(j\)
- \(h_i\) : external magenatic field on particle \(i\)
- \(\hat S^x\) : spin operator in \(x\) direction, \(\hat S^x = \frac{1}{2}\hbar\sigma_x = \frac{1}{2}\hbar\begin{bmatrix}0&1\\1&0\end{bmatrix}\)
- \(\hat S^z\) : spin operator in \(z\) direction, \(\hat S^z = \frac{1}{2}\hbar \sigma_z = \frac{1}{2}\hbar\begin{bmatrix}1&0\\0&-1\end{bmatrix}\)
Heisenberg model
$$
\begin{aligned}
\hat H &= \sum_{
Notation
- \(\hat S^\pm\) : raising/lowering operator , \(\hat S^\pm = \hbar \sigma^\pm =\hbar(\sigma_x\pm i \sigma_y)\)
- \(\hat S^+ \hat S^+ \ket \downarrow = \hat S^+\ket \uparrow = \ket {\text{null}} \quad \ket{\uparrow} = \begin{bmatrix}1\\0\end{bmatrix}\qquad \ket{\downarrow} = \begin{bmatrix}0\\1\end{bmatrix}\qquad\ket{\text{null}} = \begin{bmatrix}0\\0\end{bmatrix}\)
- \((\sigma^\pm)^2= 0\) : a spin can be flipped only only once
- \(\hat M^z\) : total magnetization , \(\hat M^z=\sum_i \hat S_i^z\)
- conserve total magentization
- Hamitonian has \(SU(2)\) symmetry
Example : two particles (\(\{\ket{\uparrow\uparrow}, \ket{\uparrow\downarrow},\ket {\downarrow\uparrow}, \ket{\downarrow\downarrow}\}\))
\(\hat H = \begin{bmatrix}\frac{1}{4}J_{ij}&0&0&0\\0&-\frac{1}{4}J_{ij}&\frac{1}{2}J_{ij}&0\\0&\frac{1}{2}J_{ij}&-\frac{1}{4}J_{ij}&0\\0&0&0&\frac{1}{4}J_{ij}\end{bmatrix}\)
\(XXZ\) model
$$
\hat H = \sum_{
- conserve total magentization \(\hat M^z\)
Notation
- \(\Delta\) : hyperparameter
\(\Delta = 0\) \(\Delta = 1\) \(\Delta\to \infin\) \(XY\) model Heisenberg model Ising model
Jordan-Wigner Transformation
mapping spin models to spinless fermions, derive from \(XXZ\) model
$$
\hat H = \frac{1}{2}\sum_{
Notation
- \(\hat c_i/\hat c_i^\dagger\) : Jordan-Wigner transformation operator, \(\hat c_i = \prod_{j<i}\left(\sigma_j^z\right)\sigma_i^+ \qquad \hat c_i^\dagger = \prod_{j<i}\left(\sigma_j^z\right)\sigma_i^-\)
- \(\{\hat c_i,\hat c_j^\dagger\}=\delta_{ij}\)
- \(\{\hat c_i, \hat c_j\}=\{\hat c_i^\dagger, \hat c_j^\dagger\}=0\)
- \(\hat n_i\) : number operator, \(\hat n_i=\hat c_i^\dagger \hat c_i\)
Brute-force method¶
[ED] Exact Diagonalization¶
diagonalizing the Hamiltonian matrix
- full spectrum \(N\approx 20\)
- Lanczos algorithm \(N\approx 40\)
Lanczos algorithm
- storage complexity \(\mathcal O(2^N)\) compared to dense matrix eigen solvers of \(\mathcal O(2^N)^2\)
- ghost state : low-lying eigen values result from round of error that \(\vec r_n\) is not fully orthogonal
Algorithm
- find the orthogonalized basis \(\vec r_i\) using Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization
$\begin{aligned} \vec r_0 = \frac{\vec v}{\Vert \vec v\Vert} \quad \beta_m\vec r_m = H\vec r_{m-1} - \alpha_{m-1}\vec r_{m-1} - \beta_{m-1}\vec{r}{m-2} \end{aligned}\quad \alpha_n =\vec r_n^\dagger H\vec r_n \quad \beta_n = |\vec r_n^\dagger H\vec r| $
- express Hamiltonian \(H\) in tridiagonal matrix
\(H^M = \begin{bmatrix} \alpha_0 & \beta_1 & \cdots & 0 & 0 \\ \beta_1 & \alpha_1 & \cdots & 0 & 0 \\ \vdots & \vdots & \ddots & \vdots & \vdots\\ 0 & 0 & \cdots & \alpha_{M-1}&\beta_M \\ 0 & 0 & \cdots & \beta_M & \alpha_M \end{bmatrix}\)
eigendecomposite the \(H^M\)
transform the eigenvectors to the original basis
for memory constraint, only store the last three \(\vec r_n\) and recompute \(\vec r_n\) iteratively to perform basis transformation
Spin-\(\frac{1}{2}\) hamitonians
two possible state \(\ket\uparrow\) and \(\ket\downarrow\) bitwise operation (xor) rather than vector
- \(\hat S_i^z\hat S_{i+1}^z\) :
s = s ^ (s>>1) - \(\hat S_i^+\hat S_{i+1}^-\) :
s = s ^ (3<<i)
Example
assume state \(s=011_2\)
then for heisenberg model \(\tilde s = 011 _2\oplus 010_2 = 010_2\) where \(\oplus\) is bitwise xor here.
Notation
- \(\hat S^\pm\) : \(\hat S^\pm = \hbar \sigma^\pm =\hbar(\sigma_x\pm i \sigma_y)\)
symmetries
block diagonalize the Hamitonian and solve within the symmetries' eigenspaces.
Example : Transverse Field Ising Model
- parity operator : \(\hat P = \bigotimes_i \sigma_i^x\), the eigen values are \(\pm 1\)
- \(\ket \psi = \hat P^M \ket \psi\) : for random state \(\psi\), apply operator for \(M\) times we find the initial state again
- eigen state becomes : \(\sum_{i=0}^M\hat P^i\ket\psi\)
- construct hamiltonian \(H\) from eigen state and eigen vector
Time evolution¶
Trotter-Suzuki decomposition: \(\hat H = \sum_{k=1}^K \hat h_k\to e^{-i\hat H\Delta t/\hbar}= \prod_{k=1}^K e^{-i\hat h_k\Delta t/\hbar}+\mathcal O(\Delta t^2)\)
- time-indepedent assumption : \(\ket{\psi(t+\Delta t)}= e^{-i\hat H\Delta t/\hbar}\ket{\psi(t)}\)
- non-commuting decomposition : \(\hat H = \sum_{k=1}^K\hat h_k\quad [\hat h_i,\hat h_j]\neq 0\quad i\neq j\)
- second order version : \(e^{-i\hat H\Delta t/\hbar} = \left(\prod_{k=1}^K e^{-i\hat h_k\Delta t/2\hbar}\right)\left(\prod_{k=K}^1 e^{-i\hat h_k\Delta t/2\hbar}\right)+\mathcal O(\Delta t^3)\)
Example : \(K=2\)
\(\ket{\psi(t+\Delta t)} = e^{-i\hat h_1 \Delta t/2\hbar}e^{-i\hat h_2\Delta t/\hbar}e^{-i\hat h_1\Delta t/2\hbar}\ket{\psi}\)
Example : Transverse Field Ising Model
\(\hat H = \underbrace{\sum_{<ij>}J_{ij}\sigma_i^z\sigma_j^z}_{\hat h_1} - \underbrace{\sum_i h_i\sigma_i^x}_{\hat h_2}\)
\(e^{-i\hat h_1\Delta t/\hbar} = \bigotimes_{<ij>}e^{-i\Delta tJ_{ij}s_i^z s_j6z/\hbar}\)
\(e^{-i\hat h_2\Delta t/\hbar} = \begin{bmatrix}\text{cos}(\Delta th_i/\hbar)&i\text{sin}(\Delta t h_i/\hbar)\\ i\text{sin}(\Delta th_i/\hbar)&\text{cos}(\Delta t h_i/\hbar)\end{bmatrix}\)
(since \(e^A = 1 + A + \frac{A^2}{2!}+\cdots\) )
Notation
- \([\cdot,\cdot]\) : commute operator, \([A,B]=AB-BA=0\to A,B\) commute
- \(<i,j>\) : means \(i,j\) are neighbors
- \(J_{ij}\) : connection between site \(i\) and \(j\)
- \(h_i\) : magenatic field at site \(i\)
- \(\hat h_k\) : non-commuting term
- \(s_i\) : eigen value for \(\sigma^z_i\)
Imaginary-time evlotion: \(it\to \tau\)
- time-indepedent assumption : \(\ket{\psi(t)}= e^{-i\hat Ht/\hbar}\ket{\psi(0)}\to \ket{\psi(t)}=e^{-\tau\hat H}\ket{\psi(0)}\)
- converges to the ground state by suppressing the amplitudes of excited states exponentially fast in the product \(\Delta E_k\tau\) .
Magnus expansian : \(\hat U(\Delta t) = e^{-i\bar H_t\Delta t/\hbar}+\mathcal O(\Delta t^2)\quad H_t = \bar H_t^1 +\bar H_t^2+\cdots\)
- time-depdent assumption : \(\ket{\psi(t')}=U(t',t)\ket{\psi(t)}\)
- \(\bar H^1_t = \frac{1}{\Delta t}\int_{t}^{t+\Delta t} \hat H(s)ds\) and \(H^2_t = -\frac{i}{\Delta t}\int_{t}^{t+\Delta t}ds\int_{t}^sdl\left[\hat H(s),\hat H(l)\right]\)
Notation
- \(U\) : evolution operator, \(\hat U(t',t) = e^{-i\int_t^{t'}\hat H(s)\text ds/\hbar}\quad t'>t\)
Matrix Product States¶
Bipartite entanglement¶
Reduced density matrix : \(\rho_A =\text{Tr}_B(\ket \psi \bra\psi)\quad \ket\psi \in\mathcal H =\mathcal H_A\otimes \mathcal H_B\)
Notation
- \(\otimes\) : kronecker product, e.g. \(\begin{bmatrix}1&0\\0&1\end{bmatrix}\otimes \begin{bmatrix}1&1\\1&1\end{bmatrix}=\begin{bmatrix}1&1&0&0\\1&1&0&0\\0&0&1&1\\0&0&1&1\end{bmatrix}\)
- \(\text{Tr}_B\) : partial trace over subsystem \(B\) , e.g. \(\text{Tr}_B\begin{bmatrix}A_{11}B_{11}&A_{11}B_{12}&A_{12}B_{11}&A_{12}B_{12}\\A_{11}B_{21}&A_{11}B_{22}&A_{12}B_{21}&A_{12}B_{22}\\A_{21}B_{11}&A_{21}B_{12}&A_{22}B_{11}&A_{22}B_{12}\\A_{21}B_{21}&A_{21}B_{22}&A_{22}B_{21}&A_{22}B_{22}\end{bmatrix}=\begin{bmatrix}\sum_{ii}B_{ii}A_{11}&\sum_{ii}B_{ii}A_{12}\\\sum_{ii}B_{ii}A_{21}&\sum_{ii}B_{ii}A_{22}\end{bmatrix}\)
Entanglement : \(S=-\text{Tr}(\rho_A~ \text{log}~\rho_A)=-\text{Tr}(\rho_B~\text{log}~\rho_B)\)
using Schmidt decomposition \(\rho_A = \sum_\alpha \lambda_\alpha^2 \ket{\phi_\alpha}_A\bra{\phi_\alpha}_A\to S-\sum_\alpha \lambda_\alpha^2\text{log}\lambda_\alpha^2\)
- product state (zero entanglement) : \(S=0\Leftrightarrow\lambda_1 = 1,\lambda_{\alpha>1} = 0\)
- maximally entangled state : \(S=\frac{N}{2}\text{log}d\Leftrightarrow \lambda_i = 1/\sqrt{d^{N/2}}\)
- random state : \(S\approx \frac{N}{2}\text{log}d-\frac{1}{2}\)
Area law of entanglement : entanglement entropy scales as \(S\propto L^{D-1}\)
Example : 1-D entanglement
\(S\sim\text{const}\)
Notation
- \(S\) : entanglement entropy
- \(d\) : Hilbert space dimension
- \(\lambda\) : eigen value
- \(N\) : number of sites
- \(D\) : dimension of the entanglement system
- \(L\) : linear dimension of system
Matrix Product state¶
[MPS] Matrix Product State : \(\ket{\psi}= \sum_s \text{Tr}(A_1^{s_1}\cdots A^{s_N}_N)\ket {s_1\cdots s_N}\)

- canonical form (normalization) : \(A=\Lambda \Gamma\)

Example : GHZ or 'cat' state $$ \ket {GHZ} = \frac{1}{\sqrt 2}(\ket{\downarrow}^{\otimes N}+\ket{\uparrow}^{\otimes N}) = \frac{1}{Z}\left(\text{Tr}\left((A{\uparrow})N\right)\ket{\uparrow}^{\otimes N}+\text{Tr}\left((A\downarrow)N\right)\ket{\downarrow}^{\otimes N} \right) $$ where \(Z\) is a norm and \(A^\downarrow_i = A^\downarrow = \begin{bmatrix}1&0\\0&0\end{bmatrix}\quad A^\uparrow_i = A^\uparrow = \begin{bmatrix}0&0\\0&1\end{bmatrix}\)
Example : AKLT state
ground state of spin-1 Hamiltonian : \(\hat H = \sum_j \hat {\vec S_j}\cdot \hat {\vec S}_{j+1} + \frac{1}{3}\left(\hat{\vec S}_j \cdot \hat{\vec S}_{j+1}\right)^2\)
with matrices : \(A^+_i = A^+=\sqrt{\frac{2}{3}}\sigma^+ = \begin{bmatrix}0&\sqrt{\frac{2}{3}}\\0&0\end{bmatrix}\quad A^0_i = A^0 =\frac{-1}{\sqrt 3}\sigma^z = \begin{bmatrix}-\frac{1}{\sqrt{3}} & 0 \\0 & \frac{1}{\sqrt 3}\end{bmatrix}\quad A^-_i = A^- = - \sqrt{\frac{2}{3}}\sigma^- \begin{bmatrix}0&0\\-\sqrt{\frac{2}{3}}&0\end{bmatrix}\)
the corresponding \(\ket +\), \(\ket -\) , \(\ket 0\) are three states for spin-1 particle not for spin-\(\frac{1}{2}\) particle
Notation
- \(A_i\) : a rank-3 tensor, \(A_i\in \mathbb C^{D\times 2\times 2}\), \(D\) is the number of basis state for single site.
\(A_i^{s_i}\) means when the site \(i\) is in state \(s_i\), there is a \(2\times2\) matrix for product
For translationally symmetric \(A_i=A\)
- \(\sigma^+\) : creation / raising operator , \(\sigma^+ = \begin{bmatrix}0&0\\1&0\end{bmatrix}\)
- \(\sigma^+ \ket \downarrow = 0\)
\(\sigma^+ \ket \uparrow =\ket \downarrow\)
\(\sigma^-\) : annihilation / lowering operator, \(\sigma^- = \begin{bmatrix}0&1\\0&0\end{bmatrix}\)
- \(\sigma^- \ket \downarrow = \ket \uparrow\)
\(\sigma^- \ket \uparrow = 0\)
\(\ket +\) : for spin-1 , \(\ket + = \ket {\uparrow\uparrow}\)
\(\ket -\) : for spin-1 , \(\ket - = \ket{\downarrow\downarrow}\)
\(\ket 0\) : for spin-1 , \(\ket 0 = \frac{1}{\sqrt 2}\left(\ket{\uparrow\downarrow}+\ket{\downarrow\uparrow}\right)\)
[MPO] Matrix Product Operator : \(\hat O = \sum_{\sigma_i,\sigma_i'}\left[W_1^{\sigma_1\sigma_1'}\cdots W_N^{\sigma_N\sigma_N'}\right]\ket{\sigma_1\dots\sigma_N}\bra{\sigma_1'\cdots\sigma_N'}\)

- computing \(\bra \psi \hat O\ket \psi\) :

Example : single site operator
\(\hat O_j = I\otimes\cdots\otimes \underbrace{\hat O}_{\text{site}~j}\otimes\cdots\otimes I\)
\(W_i^{\sigma_i,\sigma_i'}=\bra {\sigma_i}\hat O\ket {\sigma_i'}\)
Example : paramagnetic system \(\hat H = -\sum_i h\hat S_i^z\)
\(\hat H = (-h\hat S^z\otimes I\otimes \cdots \otimes I)+\cdots + (I\otimes \cdots\otimes I\otimes -h\hat S^z)\)
\(W_1 = \begin{bmatrix}-hS^z&I\end{bmatrix}\quad W_i=\begin{bmatrix}I&0\\-hS^z&I\end{bmatrix}\quad W_N=\begin{bmatrix}I\\-hS^z\end{bmatrix}\)
Example : Transverse field Ising model \(\hat H =-\sum_i \hat S_i^z\hat S_{i+1}^z + h\sum_i\hat S_i^x\)
\(W_1 = \begin{bmatrix}hS^x&-S^z&I\end{bmatrix}\quad W_i =\begin{bmatrix}I&0&0\\S^z&0&0\\hS^x&-S^z&I\end{bmatrix}\quad W_N = \begin{bmatrix}I\\S^z\\hS^x\end{bmatrix}\)
Notation
- \(W_i\) a rank-4 tensor, \(W_i\in \mathbb C^{D\times D\times 2\times 2}\)
\(W_i^{\sigma_i\sigma_j}\) means for site \(i\) when the left state is \(\sigma_i\) and right state \(\sigma_j\) there is a \(2\times2\) matrix for product
[DMRG] Density matrix renormalization group¶
find the ground state that \(\underset{\ket \psi}{\text{argmin}}\frac{\bra \psi \hat H \ket \psi}{\braket{\psi}}\)
- left normalization : \(A^\dagger A = I\quad A'=U\Sigma V^\dagger\to A = U\)
- right normalization : \(BB^\dagger = I\quad B'=U\Sigma V^\dagger\to B=V^\dagger\)
- substitution algorithm : imaginary time evolution, but converge slower
Algorithm
random initialize \(\ket \psi\) as right-normalized
build \(R_1\)
repeat until energy converge \(\text{Var}(H)<\epsilon\)
right sweep for \(l=1,\dots,L-1\)
solve eigen value for \(M_l\)
![]()
left normalize \(M_l\)
build \(L_l\)
Left sweep for \(l=L,\dots,2\)
- solve eigen value for \(M_l\)
- right normalize \(M_l\)
- build \(R_l\)
[TEBD] Time evolving block decimation¶

Algorithm
- two site tensor contraction
- apply evolution gate
- split into single site tensor
- truncation : keep \(\chi_{\text{max}}\) eigen value and renormalize \(\sum_i\Lambda_ii^2=1\)
Computation errors :
- truncation error : main error, grows exponentially
- Trotter error : can be avoid reducing \(\Delta t\) and higher expansion
- small eigen value : at step 3 \(\Lambda^{-1} A\) and \(B\Lambda^{-1}\)
- imaginary time evolution : canonical form only retrained when \(\Delta\tau\to 0\)
Further topics¶
Two-dimensional system
- converting two dimension system as chain

- [PEPS] projected entangled pair state

- challenging computationally
- lack a canonical form
Mixed state and open quantum system dynamics
-
mixed state unitary time evolution is governed by \(\hat H\) : \(\partial_t \hat \rho(t)=-i[\hat H,\hat \rho(t)]\)
-
open quantum system : coupled to an environment or bath
which can be described by Lindblad equation : \(\partial _t \hat \rho =\hat{\mathcal L}\hat \rho = -i[\hat H,\hat \rho] + \sum_i\gamma_i\left(\hat L_i\hat \rho \hat L_i^\dagger - \frac{1}{2}\{\hat L_i^\dagger\hat L_i,\hat \rho\}\right)\)

Notation
- \(\hat L_i\) : jump operator, the system operators directly coupled to the bath, e.g. creation, annilation
- \(\hat {\mathcal L}\) : Lindbladian, could be considered as a linear operator \(\ket {\rho(t)}=e^{-i\hat {\mathcal L}t}\ket{\rho_0}\)
Symmetries
schmidt eigenstates belong to a fixed magnetization sector

[TDVP]Time-dependent variational principle
- action function : \(S=\int_{t_1}^{t_2}\bra {\psi(t)}i\partial_t-\hat H\ket {\psi(t)}\text dt \to \partial_tA_i=-iH_iA_i\)
- analogue to DMRG algorithm, but better at simulate long-ranged
Quantum Monte Carlo¶
Monte Carlo Basics¶
Monte Carlo
- error \(\frac{1}{\sqrt N}\)
Markov Chain : \(P_{XY} = T(X\to Y)A(X\to Y)\quad A(X\to Y) = \text{min}\left\{1,\frac{W(Y)}{W(X)}\right\}\)
- Ergodicity : \(T(X\to Y)>0\quad \forall X,Y\)
- Normalization : \(\sum_Y T(X\to Y)=1\)
- Reversibility : \(T(X\to Y) = T(Y\to X)\), if \(T\) not satisfy this, then \(A(X\to Y) = \text{min}\left\{1,\frac{W(Y)T(Y\to X)}{W(X)T(X\to Y)}\right\}\)
Notation
- \(T\) : transition probability
- \(W\) : static distribution
- \(A\) : accept probability
Classical Ising model¶
symmetry-braking phase transition at a finite temperature $$ H = -\sum_{} J_{ij}\sigma_i\sigma_j - \sum_i h\sigma_i\quad \sigma_i=\pm 1 $$
Notation
- \(J_{ij}\) : coupling constant
- \(J_{ij} \ge 0\) : symmetry-broken state
- \(h_i\) : external field
- \(<i,j>\) : means \(i,j\) are connected
- \(c\) : cluster, \(|c|\) means the number of spins inside a cluster
- \(\beta\) : inverse temperature, \(\beta = \frac{1}{\kappa_B T}\)
- \(m\) : magnetization
Algorithm : Swendsen-Wang
- two neighboring parallel spins connected with probability \(p=1-e^{-2\beta J}\)
- cluster labeling. e.g., Hoshen-Kopelman algorithm
- measurement : \(\langle m^2\rangle_{C'} = \frac{1}{N^2}\sum_c |c|^2\)
- cluster flipped with probability \(\frac{1}{2}\)
Algorithm : Wolff
- random site
- recursive find parallel neighbor add it to the cluster with \(p=1-e^{-2\beta J}\)
- measurement : \(\langle m^2\rangle_{C'}=\frac{1}{N}|c_0|\), since only one cluster
- flip all spins in the clster
- Swendsen-Wang will result in many small clusters in high dimension, but Wolff will result in one large cluster
Quantum spin system thermodynamics¶
Notation
- \(\hat m\) : magnetization
- \(\beta\) : reverse of temperature \(\beta = \frac{1}{\kappa_B T}\)
- \(Z\) : partition sum
- \(m(C)\) : magnetization of a configuration \(C\)
- \(W(C)\) : weight of a configuration \(C\)
spin-\(\frac{1}{2}\) in a magnetic field : \(\hat H = -h \hat S^z -\Gamma \hat S^x=\begin{bmatrix}-\frac{h}{2}&-\frac{\Gamma}{2}\\-\frac{\Gamma}{2}&\frac{h}{2}\end{bmatrix}\)
Notation
- \(h\) : longitudinal field
- \(\Gamma\) : transverse field
Discrete-time path integral : \(\beta = \Delta\tau M\)
expand to first order \(e^{-\Delta \tau \hat H} = \hat U +\mathcal O(\Delta\tau^2)\to Z \approx \text{Tr}\left(\hat U^M\right)\)
Notation
- \(\hat U\) : transfer matrix : \(\hat U = I - \Delta \tau \hat H = \begin{bmatrix}1+\frac{\Delta\tau h}{2}&\frac{\Delta\tau\Gamma}{2}\\\frac{\Delta\tau \Gamma}{2}&1-\frac{\Delta \tau h}{2}\end{bmatrix}\)
- \(\Delta \tau\) : discrete time step
- \(M\) : resolution
- \(E_0\) : ground energy
Example : 1D classical Ising model (0D transverse field Ising model)
\(H = -J\sum_i^M\sigma_i\sigma_{i+1}-h\sum_i \sigma_i\) with periodic boundary condition \(\sigma_{M+1}=\sigma_1\)
- \(\beta J = -\frac{1}{2}\text{log}(\Delta \tau \Gamma/2)\) : off diagonal
- \(\beta h = \text{log}(1+\Delta \tau h/2)\) : diagonal
- \(\beta E_0 = M\beta J\)
Continous-time path integral: \(\Delta\tau \to 0\) ???
\(d\) -dimensional quantum spin model \(\Leftrightarrow\) \(d+1\)- dimensional classical Ising model
Example : 1D classical Ising model (0D transverse field Ising model)
quantum \(XY\) model : \(\hat H = -\sum_{<i,j>}\frac{J_{xy}}{2}(\hat S_i^+\hat S_j^- + \hat S_i^-\hat S_j^+)\)
spin flip-flops (blue line) proportional to \(\beta\) which is a constant not grow bigger as \(\Delta \tau \to 0\)

negative sign problem : positive off diagonal lead to negative probabilities
- solution : \(\langle \hat A\rangle_W = \frac{\sum_C A(C)W(C)}{\sum_C W(C)} = \frac{\sum_C A(C)\text{sign}(W)|W(C)|/\sum_C |W(C)|}{\sum_C \text{sign}(W)|W(C)|/\sum_C|W(C)|}\)
- error : \(\beta\uparrow ,L\uparrow\to \epsilon\uparrow\) error \(\epsilon\) increase with inverse temperature \(\beta\) and system size \(L\)
Variational Monte Carlo¶
variational principle : \(\ket {\psi(\theta)} = \sum_n \psi_n(\theta)\ket n\)
energy expectation(MCMC) : \(E_\theta = \frac{\sum_n |\psi_n(\theta)|^2E_1(n)}{\sum_n |\psi_n(\theta)|^2}\)
Notation
- \(E_1(n)\) : local energy \(E_1(n)=\sum_m \bra n\hat H\ket m\psi_m(\theta)\psi_n(\theta)\)
- \(G_{kl}\) : metric tensor \(G_{kl} = \langle\hat O_k^*\hat O_l\rangle_\theta - \langle \hat O_k^*\rangle_\theta\langle\hat O_l\rangle_\theta\)
- \(O\) : logarithm wave-function derivative \(O = \nabla_\theta \psi_n(\theta)/\psi_n(\theta)\)
- \(\hat O = \sum_n O(n)\ket n \bra n\)
[SGD]Stochastic Graident Descent : \(\theta\gets \theta - \lambda \nabla_\theta E_\theta\)
- \(\nabla_\theta\langle E\rangle_\theta = 2\text{Re}\left\{\sum_n W(n)[E_1(n)-E_\theta]O(n)\right\}\)
Stochastic Reconfiguration : \(\theta\gets \theta - \Delta \tau G^{-1}\nabla_\theta E_\theta\)
- to avoid small value inverse : \(G' = \sqrt{\beta^2I + G^\dagger G}\quad \beta\in \R\)
Jastrow States : \(\psi_n(\theta ) = \text{exp}\left(\sum_i a_i\sigma_i + \sum_{<ij>}J_{ij}\sigma_i\sigma_j \right)\quad \theta= \{a,J\}\)
wave function form for spin system
[NQS]Neural Quantum States : \(\psi_n(\theta)=\text{MLP}(\{\sigma_1,\cdots,\sigma_N\})\)
[MFPWF]Mean-field projected wave function : \(\ket {\psi(\theta)} = \mathcal P_G \left[\sum_{i,j}\sum_{s,s'}F_{ij}^{ss'}\hat c_{i,s}^\dagger\hat c_{j,s'}^\dagger\right]^{N/2}\ket 0\quad \theta = F_{ij}^{ss'}\in\R^{2N\times 2N}\)
- \(\psi_n(\theta) = (N/2)!\text{Pf}(X)\)
represent spin as pesudo-fermions : \(\hat S_i^{\{x,y,z\}} = \frac{1}{2}\sum_{ss'}\hat c_{i,s}\sigma_{ss'}^\alpha\hat c_{i,s'}\)
Notation
- \(\mathcal P_G\) : Gutzwilller projection operator
- \(\hat c_{i,s},\hat c_{i,s}^\dagger\) : fermionic annihlation/creation operator
- \(s,s'\) : spin of the site, \(\uparrow\) or \(\downarrow\)
- \(i,j\) : index of the site
Path integrals in quantum statistical mechanics¶
\(\rho_{\text{free}}(\vec R,\vec R',\Delta\tau) = \bra {\vec R} e^{-\Delta\tau\hat T}\ket{\vec R'}=\left(\frac{2\pi\hbar^2 \Delta\tau}{m}\right)^{-Nd/2}\text{exp}\left({-\frac{|\vec R-\vec R'|^2}{2\hbar^2\Delta\tau/m}}\right)\)
\(Z = \int \text d\vec R \rho(\vec R,\vec R)=\int \left(\prod_{j=1}^M \text d\vec R_j\right)\prod_{j=1}^M \left[\left(\frac{2\pi\hbar^2 \Delta \tau}{m}\right)^{-Nd/2}\text{exp}\left(-\frac{\vec R_j-\vec R_{j+1}}{2\hbar^2\Delta\tau/m}-\Delta\tau V(\vec R_j)\right)\right]\)
Notation
- \(\rho_{\text{free}}\) : density matrix of free particles
- \(Z\) : partition function
- \(\vec R_j\) : \((\vec r_1,\vec r_2,\cdots,\vec r_N)\) , \(N\) particles position at time \(j\)
- \(\hat T,\hat V\) : kinetic, potential terms of Hamiltonian \(\hat H\), \(\hat T = -\frac{\hbar^2}{2m}\partial_x^2\)
path sampling method : \(A(X\to X' ) = \text{min}\left\{1, \frac{\text{exp}(-m[(\vec r_{j-1}^i - \vec r_j^{i'})^2+(\vec r_j^{i'}-\vec r^i_{j+1})^2]/2\hbar^2\Delta\tau)}{\text{exp}(-m[(\vec r_{j-1}^i-\vec r_j^i)^2+(\vec r_j^i - \vec r_{j+1}^i)^2]/2\hbar^2\Delta \tau)}\cdot \text{exp}(-\Delta \tau[V(\vec R'_j)-V(\vec R_j)])\right\}\)
The accept probability of Metropolis algorithm is defined above
\(H = \sum_j\sum_i \frac{m}{2(\hbar\Delta \tau)^2}(\vec r_j^i-\vec r_{j+1}^i)^2+\sum_j V(\vec R_j)\)
Notation
- \(\vec r_j^i\) : position of particle \(i\) at time \(j\)
- \(\vec r_j^{i'}\) : displaced position of particle \(i\) at time \(j\)
- \(\vec R_j\) : \((\vec r_1,\vec r_2,\cdots,\vec r_N)\) , \(N\) particles position at time \(j\)
- \(V\) : potential energy, in most cases it's sum of single-particle and two-particle terms : \(\hat V = \sum_i^N v_{\text{ext}}(\hat{\vec r}^i) + \sum_{i<j}v(\hat{\vec r}^i -\hat{\vec r}^j)\)
Boson symmetry :
\(\rho_{\text{Bose}} = \frac{1}{N!}\sum_P \rho(\vec R_1,P\vec R_2, \beta)\)
[DMC] Diffusion Monte Carlo¶

Algorithm
- \(w_0^\alpha \gets 1,\vec R_0^\alpha \gets \vec R_0\)
- update loop
- \(\vec R^\alpha_k \sim \mathcal N(\vec R^\alpha_{k-1},\frac{\Delta \tau}{m})\) : diffusion update
- \(w_k^\alpha\gets w_{k-1}^\alpha e^{-\frac{\Delta \tau}{2}[V(\vec R_k^\alpha)+V(\vec R^\alpha_{k-1})]}\)
- clone \(\lfloor \frac{w_k^\alpha}{\mathbb E_\alpha [w_k^\alpha]} + r\rfloor\) times for walker \(\alpha\)
- maximum clones \(\Leftrightarrow\) \(\Delta \tau\) too large
- scale \(w^\alpha\to\text{exp}(E_t\Delta \tau)w^\alpha\) where \(E_t\) is trial energy \(V(\vec R)\gets V(\vec R)-E_t\), when \(E_t=E_0\) stability will achieve.
Importance sampling : \(\vec R_{k-1} \gets \vec R_{k-1}+\frac{\hbar^2\Delta\tau}{2m}\frac{2\nabla\phi_t(\vec R_{k-1})}{\phi(\vec R_{k-1})}\)
before update, add a dift : \(\vec R_{k-1} \gets \vec R_{k-1}+\frac{\hbar^2\Delta\tau}{2m}\frac{2\nabla\phi_t(\vec R_{k-1})}{\phi(\vec R_{k-1})}\)
Notation
- \(\phi_t\) : trial wavefunction \(\phi_t(\vec R)= \prod_{i<j}f_z(|\vec r_i -\vec r_j|)\)
- \(f_z\) : Jastrow factor, two particle coorelations
Fermionic systems : \(\phi_{t'}(\vec R)=\phi_t(\vec R)\underset{l,n}{\text{det}}[e^{i\vec k_l\cdot \vec r_n}]\)
\(\phi_0\) could be negative, when \(\phi\to-\phi\) should be applied
Notation
- \(n\) : particle index
- \(\vec k_l\) : wave vectors compatible with periodic boundary conditions
Electronic-structure problem¶
Full Hamiltonian of matter¶
Adiabatic (Born-Oppenheimer) approximation : \(M_l \gg m\quad |\vec R_l-\vec R_m| \ll |\vec r_i - \vec r_j|\) $$ \hat H = \underbrace{\sum_{j=1}{N_e}\frac{\hbar2}{2m}\nabla^2_{\vec r_j}}{\hat T_e} - \underbrace{\sum{N_e}\sum_{j=1}}\frac{Z_le^2}{|\vec r_j - \vec R_l|}{V}}+\underbrace{\frac{1}{2}\sum_{i\neq j{N_e}\frac{e2}{|\vec r_i-\vec r_j|}}{V $$ }Non-interacing (mean-field) approximation : \(\hat H_{\text{sp}} = -\frac{\hbar^2}{2m}\nabla^2_{\vec r}+V_{\text{eff}}(\vec r)\)
non-interacting electrons assumption, \(V_{en}+V_M + V_{ee}\to V_{\text{eff}}\)
Hatree-Fock approximation :
use a Slater determinant for non-interacting system $$ \begin{aligned} \bra \Phi \hat H\ket\Phi &= \underbrace{\sum_{i,\sigma}\int \text d^3 \vec r~\phi_i^{\sigma}(\vec r)[-\frac{\hbar2}{2m}\nabla2 + V_{en}(\vec r)]\sigma_i^\sigma(\vec r) + V_M}{\hat T_e+ V \ &\begin{drcases} + \sum_{i,j,\sigma,\sigma'}e^2\int \text d^3\vec r~\text d^3\vec r'~\phi_i^{\sigma}}(\vec r)~\phi_j^{\sigma'}(\vec r')\frac{1}{|\vec r-\vec r'|}\phi_i^\sigma(\vec r)\phi_j^{\sigma'}(\vec r')&\text{Hatree interaction} \ % -\sum_{i,j,\sigma}e^2\int \text d^3\vec r~\text d^3\vec r'~\phi_i^{\sigma}(\vec r)~\phi_j^{\sigma*}(\vec r)\frac{1}{|\vec r-\vec r'|}\phi_j^\sigma(\vec r)\phi_i^\sigma(\vec r')&\text{exchange interaction} \end{drcases} V_{ee} \end{aligned} $$ The integration shows that the wave function \(\psi\) is defined in the whole space
Notation
- \(i,j\) : index of the single particle state
- \(\sigma,\sigma'\) : spin of the electron, \(\uparrow\) or \(\downarrow\)
- \(\phi_i^\sigma(\vec r)\) : dnotes for particle \(i\) of state \(\sigma\) , the wave function value at position \(\vec r\)
Configuration-Interaction : \(\ket {\Phi_0} = \left(1+\sum_{i,\mu}\alpha_\mu^i\hat c^\dagger_i\hat c_\mu +\sum_{i<j,\mu<\nu}\alpha_{\mu,\nu}^{ij}\hat c^\dagger_i\hat c^\dagger_j \hat c_\mu \hat c_\nu\right)\ket {\Phi_{\text{HF}}}\)
add interations between electrons correctly and allow calculation of excited state
Notation
- \(\ket {\Phi_{\text{HF}}}\) : Hartree-Fock ground state, which is from the Hartree-Fock approximation, \(\ket {\Phi_{\text{HF}}}=\prod_{\mu=1}^N \hat c^\dagger_\mu \ket {\text{nulll}}\)
- \(\hat c^\dagger, \hat c\) : creation / annihilation operator
[DFT] Density functional theory¶
Hohenberg-Kohn Theorem : for electron system \(\hat H = \underbrace{-\frac{\hbar^2}{2m}\sum_j\nabla_j^2}_{\hat T_e}+\underbrace{\frac{1}{2}\sum_{i\neq j}\frac{e^2}{|\vec r_i -\vec r_j|}}_{\hat V_{ee}}+\underbrace{\int v_{\text{ext}}(\vec r)n(\vec r)\text d\vec r}_{\hat V_{\text{ext}}}\)
- Uniqueness : \(n_0(\vec r) \Leftrightarrow v_{\text{ext}}(\vec r)\)
- Variational : \(n_0 = \underset{n}{\text{argmin}}~E = \underset{n}{\text{argmin}}\bra\Psi \hat H\ket \Psi\)
Notation
- \(v_{\text{ext}}(\vec r)\) : external potential density
- \(n_0(\vec r)\) : ground state electron density
- \(n(\vec r)\) : electron density \(\sum_j|\phi_j(\vec r)|^2\)
Kohn-Sham solution :
find a non-interacting system that has the same particle density as the interacting one
Algorithm
- initial guess \(V^0_{\text{eff}}\)
- solve \(\phi_j\) (eigen vector) from KS1 : \(\left[-\frac{\hbar^2}{2m_e}\nabla^2+V_{\text{eff}}(\vec r)\right]\phi_j(\vec r) = \varepsilon_j \phi_j(\vec r)\)
- \(n(\vec r)\gets \sum_i |\phi_j(\vec r)|^2\)
- revise \(V_{\text{eff}}\) from KS 2 : \(V_{\text{eff}}(\vec r) = \int \text d^3 r'\frac{n(\vec r')}{|\vec r-\vec r'|}+\mu^{\text{XC}}(\vec r)+\nu_{\text{ext}}(\vec r)\)
- goto 2 if \(|V_{\text{eff}}^{\text{new}}-V_{\text{eff}}^{\text{odd}}|\ge \text{threshold}\)
Notation
- \(\mu^{\text{XC}}\) : functional derivative of the exchange-correlation energy, \(\mu^{\text{XC}} = \frac{\text d\text E^{\text{XC}}}{\text d n}\)
- \(E^{\text{XC}}\) : exchange-correlation energy, \(E^{\text{XC}}=\bra \Phi \hat T\ket \Phi - E_k +\bra \Phi \hat V_{ee}\ket \Phi -E_c\) with approximation (local density approximation) \(E^{\text{XC}}\approx \int n(\vec r) \varepsilon^{\text{XC}}(n(\vec r))\text d\vec r=\int n(\vec r)[\varepsilon^X(n(\vec r))+\varepsilon^C(n(\vec r))]\text d\vec r\)
- uniform electron gas : \(\varepsilon(n(\vec r)) = -\frac{3}{4}\left(\frac{3}{\pi}\right)^{1/3}n(\vec r)^{1/3}\)
- Monte carlo -> interpolation
- \(E_C\) : Hartree energy \(E_C= \frac{1}{2}\int e^2 \frac{n(\vec r)n(\vec r')}{|\vec r-\vec r'|}\text d\vec r\text d \vec r'\)
- \(E_K\) : kinetic energy \(E_K = -\frac{\hbar^2}{2m}\sum_j \bra {\phi_j}\nabla^2\ket{\phi_j}\)
Basis functions¶
Atoms and molecules
- [STO] Slater Type Orbitals : \(\psi^i_{nlm}(r,\theta,\phi)\propto r^{n-1}e^{-\xi_ir}Y_{lm}(\theta,\phi)\)
- two nuclei no closed form
- [GTO] Gauss Type Orbitals : \(\psi_{nlm}^i(\vec r) \propto x^ly^mz^n e^{-\xi_ir^2}\)
- gaussian product still gaussian easy to integral
Free electron gas $$ \hat H = - \underbrace{\sum_{i=1}{N_e}\frac{\hbar2}{2m}\nabla^2_{\vec r_i}}{\hat T}+\underbrace{e^2\sum}\frac{1}{|\vec r-\vec r'|}{V $$}
- plane waves basis : \(\psi_{\vec k}(\vec r) = \text{exp}(-i\vec k\cdot \vec r)\)
- low temperature : Wigner crystal
- better basis will be eigenfunctions of harmonic oscillatiors centered around
Pseudo-potentials
- only model outer shell with basis, use pseudo potential to model inner shell since they are not involved in chemical bond
Quantum Computing¶
Quantum Computer¶
quantum gates
-
one-qubit gate
\(X\) \(\begin{bmatrix}0&1\\1&0\end{bmatrix}\) \(Y\) \(\begin{bmatrix}0&-i\\i&0\end{bmatrix}\) \(Z\) \(\begin{bmatrix}1&0\\0&-1\end{bmatrix}\) name matrix name matrix name matrix \(H=\frac{X+Z}{\sqrt 2}\) \(\frac{1}{\sqrt 2}\begin{bmatrix}1 & 1\\1&-1\end{bmatrix}\) \(T\) \(\begin{bmatrix}1&0\\0&e^{i\pi/4}\end{bmatrix}\) \(S=T^2\) \(\begin{bmatrix}1&0\\0&i\end{bmatrix}\) -
two-quitbit gate \(C(U)=\begin{bmatrix}\begin{matrix}1&0\\0&1\end{matrix}&\begin{matrix}0&0\\0&0\end{matrix}\\\begin{matrix}0&0\\0&0\end{matrix}&U\end{bmatrix}\)
measurement : \(|\bra{z_1z_2\dots}\ket{\psi}|^2\)
- repeated \(\mathcal O(1000)\) times
errors
- coupling to environment \(\Rightarrow\) mixed density matrix
- gate error
- read out measurement error
Representing the Hilbert space¶
Spin-\(\frac{1}{2}\) system : directly mapped to a qubit
Fermionic system
- Jordan-Wigner Transformation : \(\ket \Psi = \ket {n_{N-1},\cdots,n_0}\leftrightarrow \ket {z_{N-1},\cdots,z_0}\quad n_i=z_i\)
\(\hat c_i \leftrightarrow A_iZ_{i-1}\cdots Z_0\quad \hat c^\dagger_i \leftrightarrow A_i^\dagger Z_{i-1}\cdots Z_0\quad A_i = \frac{(X_i+iY_i)}{2}\)
- measuring parity requires \(\mathcal O(N)\) operators
-
updating an occupation number requires \(\mathcal O(1)\) operators
-
Parity Encoding : \(\ket \Psi = \ket {n_{N-1},\cdots,n_0}\leftrightarrow \ket {z_{N-1},\cdots,z_0}\quad z_i = \left[\sum_{j=0}^in_i\right]\text{mod}~2\)
\(\hat c_i \leftrightarrow X_{N-1}\cdots X_{i+1}(X_iZ_{i-1}+iY_i)\quad \hat c^\dagger _i \leftrightarrow X_{N-1}\cdots X_{i+1}(X_iZ_{i-1}-iY_i)\)
- measuring parity requires \(\mathcal O(1)\) operators
-
updating an occupation requires \(\mathcal O(N)\) operators
-
Bravyi-Kitaev : a hypbrid of Parity and Jordan-Wigner
Notation
- \(n_i\) : fermionic orbitals/site occupation number \(n_i\in \{0,1\}\)
- \(\hat c_i, \hat c_i^\dagger\) : creation operator, annihilation operator
Variational quantum solver¶
extract the spectrum of an operator
[QFT] Quantum fourier transform
- exact solution
- vast number of gate operations
[VQE] Variational Quantum Eigensolver : \(\underset{\theta}{\text{min}}\frac{\bra{\Psi(\theta)}\hat H\ket{\Psi(\theta)}}{\bra{\Psi(\theta)}\ket{\Psi(\theta)}}\)
- quantum computer : expectation evaluation
- classical computer : optimization COBYLA (no SGD since no gradient)
[UCC] Unitary Coupled Cluster : \(\ket {\Psi(\theta)} = e^{\hat T(\theta)-\hat T^\dagger(\theta)}\ket{\Psi_0}\)
- a good choice for variational state
- huge circuit depth
- much depend on the choice of state \(\ket{\Phi_0}\)
[UCCSD] Unitary Coupled Cluster with Single and Double excitation
- \(\hat T(\theta) \approx \hat T_1(\theta_1)+\hat T_2(\theta_2)\)
- \(\hat T_1(\theta_1)=\sum_{i,j}\theta_{1,i,j}\hat c^\dagger_i\hat c_j\)
- \(\hat T_2(\theta_2) = \sum_{i,j}\theta_{2,i,j,k,l}\hat c^\dagger_i\hat c^\dagger_k\hat c_j\hat c_l\)
Notation
- \(\hat T(\theta)\) : excitation operator
- \(\ket {\Psi_0}\) : Hartree-Fock/single Slater detereminant state


