Defining a universal sign to strictly probe a phase transition

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Ma, Nvsen, Sun, Jun-Song, Pan, Gaopei, Cheng, Chen, Yan, Zheng
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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author Ma, Nvsen
Sun, Jun-Song
Pan, Gaopei
Cheng, Chen
Yan, Zheng
author_facet Ma, Nvsen
Sun, Jun-Song
Pan, Gaopei
Cheng, Chen
Yan, Zheng
contents The mystery of the infamous sign problem in quantum Monte Carlo simulations mightily restricts applications of the method in fermionic and frustrated systems. A recent work [Science 375, 418 (2022)] made a remarkable breakthrough in the sign problem by pointing out that the sign can be used to probe phase transition. In this work, we proposed a general argument based on the definition of the sign that is related to the difference in free energy between the original and reference systems to clarify that the sign problem and phase transition cannot always be strictly related. The sign can exactly probe phase transition only if the free energy in the reference system is flat under variable parameters, which is almost impossible to design. Generally speaking, the conclusion that the sign can probe phase transition is survivorship bias without universality. To solve this problem, we define a modified sign that excludes the influence of the reference system, which can probe the phase transition strictly. The work gives an unbiased solution for detecting phase transition by the new modified sign.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2301_12438
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Defining a universal sign to strictly probe a phase transition
Ma, Nvsen
Sun, Jun-Song
Pan, Gaopei
Cheng, Chen
Yan, Zheng
Statistical Mechanics
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Quantum Physics
The mystery of the infamous sign problem in quantum Monte Carlo simulations mightily restricts applications of the method in fermionic and frustrated systems. A recent work [Science 375, 418 (2022)] made a remarkable breakthrough in the sign problem by pointing out that the sign can be used to probe phase transition. In this work, we proposed a general argument based on the definition of the sign that is related to the difference in free energy between the original and reference systems to clarify that the sign problem and phase transition cannot always be strictly related. The sign can exactly probe phase transition only if the free energy in the reference system is flat under variable parameters, which is almost impossible to design. Generally speaking, the conclusion that the sign can probe phase transition is survivorship bias without universality. To solve this problem, we define a modified sign that excludes the influence of the reference system, which can probe the phase transition strictly. The work gives an unbiased solution for detecting phase transition by the new modified sign.
title Defining a universal sign to strictly probe a phase transition
topic Statistical Mechanics
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.12438