Neural network backflow for ab-initio solid calculations

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Liu, An-Jun, Clark, Bryan K.
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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author Liu, An-Jun
Clark, Bryan K.
author_facet Liu, An-Jun
Clark, Bryan K.
contents Accurately simulating extended periodic systems is a central challenge in condensed matter physics. Neural quantum states (NQS) offer expressive wavefunctions for this task but face issues with scalability. In this work, we successfully extend the neural network backflow (NNBF) approach to ab-initio solid-state materials. Building on our scalable optimization framework for molecules [Liu et al., PRB 112, 155162 (2025)], we introduce a two-stage pruning strategy to manage the massive configuration space expansions: by utilizing a computationally cheap, physics-informed importance proxy, we devote exact NNBF amplitude evaluations solely to the most relevant determinants, significantly improving optimization efficiency, energy estimation, and convergence. Our framework achieves state-of-the-art accuracy across diverse solid-state benchmarks. For 1D hydrogen chains, NNBF matches or surpasses DMRG and AFQMC, remains robust in strongly correlated bond-breaking regimes where coupled-cluster methods fail, and smoothly extrapolates to the thermodynamic limit. We further demonstrate its scalability by computing ground-state potential energy curves for 2D graphene and 3D silicon. Finally, ablation studies validate the computational savings of our pruning strategy and highlight the dependence of the NNBF energies on basis sets.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_14775
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Neural network backflow for ab-initio solid calculations
Liu, An-Jun
Clark, Bryan K.
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Disordered Systems and Neural Networks
Computational Physics
Quantum Physics
Accurately simulating extended periodic systems is a central challenge in condensed matter physics. Neural quantum states (NQS) offer expressive wavefunctions for this task but face issues with scalability. In this work, we successfully extend the neural network backflow (NNBF) approach to ab-initio solid-state materials. Building on our scalable optimization framework for molecules [Liu et al., PRB 112, 155162 (2025)], we introduce a two-stage pruning strategy to manage the massive configuration space expansions: by utilizing a computationally cheap, physics-informed importance proxy, we devote exact NNBF amplitude evaluations solely to the most relevant determinants, significantly improving optimization efficiency, energy estimation, and convergence. Our framework achieves state-of-the-art accuracy across diverse solid-state benchmarks. For 1D hydrogen chains, NNBF matches or surpasses DMRG and AFQMC, remains robust in strongly correlated bond-breaking regimes where coupled-cluster methods fail, and smoothly extrapolates to the thermodynamic limit. We further demonstrate its scalability by computing ground-state potential energy curves for 2D graphene and 3D silicon. Finally, ablation studies validate the computational savings of our pruning strategy and highlight the dependence of the NNBF energies on basis sets.
title Neural network backflow for ab-initio solid calculations
topic Strongly Correlated Electrons
Disordered Systems and Neural Networks
Computational Physics
Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.14775