The response of the uniform electron gas (UEG) to an external perturbation is of paramount importance for many applications. Recently, highly accurate results for the static density response function and the corresponding local field correction have been provided both for warm dense matter [\textit{J.~Chem.~Phys.}~\textbf{151}, 194104 (2019)] and strongly coupled electron liquid [\textit{Phys.~Rev.~B}~\textbf{101}, 045129 (2020)] conditions based on exact \textit{ab initio} path integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) simulations. In the present work, we further complete our current description of the UEG by exploring the high energy density regime, which is relevant for, e.g., astrophysical applications and inertial confinement fusion experiments. To this end, we present extensive new PIMC results for the static density response in the range of $0.05 \leq r_s \leq 0.5$ and $0.85\leqθ\leq8$. These data are subsequently used to benchmark the accuracy of the widely used random phase approximation and the dielectric theory by Singwi, Tosi, Land, and Sjölander (STLS). Moreover, we compare our results to configuration PIMC data where they are available and find perfect agreement with a relative accuracy of $0.001-0.01\%$. All PIMC data are available online.
In this thesis, the properties of mixtures of Bose-Einstein condensates at $T = 0$ have been investigated using quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) methods and Density Functional Theory (DFT) with the aim of understanding physics beyond the mean-field theory in Bose-Bose mixtures.
One of the most significant drawbacks of the all-electron ab initio diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) is that its computational cost drastically increases with the atomic number ($Z$), which typically scales with $Z^{\sim 6}$. In this study, we introduce an algorithm based on a very efficient implementation of the Lattice Regularized Diffusion Monte Carlo (LRDMC), where the conventional time discretization is replaced by its lattice space counterpart. This scheme enables us to conveniently adopt a small lattice space in the vicinity of nuclei, and a large one in the valence region, by which a consid…
There is growing interest in warm dense matter (WDM) -- an exotic state on the border between condensed matter and plasmas. Due to the simultaneous importance of quantum and correlation effects WDM is complicated to treat theoretically. A key role has been played by \textit{ab initio} path integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) simulations, and recently extensive results for thermodynamic quantities have been obtained. The first extension of PIMC simulations to the dynamic structure factor of the uniform electron gas were reported by Dornheim \textit{et al.} [Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{121}, 255001 (2018)]…
Although liquid water is ubiquitous in chemical reactions at roots of life and climate on the earth, the prediction of its properties by high-level ab initio molecular dynamics simulations still represents a formidable task for quantum chemistry. In this article we present a room temperature simulation of liquid water based on the potential energy surface obtained by a many-body wave function through quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) methods. The simulated properties are in good agreement with recent neutron scattering and X-ray experiments, particularly concerning the position of the oxygen-oxygen pe…
We describe an algorithm to reduce the cost of auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo (AFQMC) calculations for the electronic structure problem. The technique uses a nested low-rank factorization of the electron repulsion integral (ERI). While the cost of conventional AFQMC calculations in Gaussian bases scales as $\mathcal{O}(N^4)$ where $N$ is the size of the basis, we show that ground-state energies can be computed through tensor decomposition with reduced memory requirements and sub-quartic scaling. The algorithm is applied to hydrogen chains and square grids, water clusters, and hexagonal BN…
Thin-film solar cells with CuIn$_x$Ga$_{1-x}$Se$_2$ (CIGS) absorber are still far below their efficiency limit, although lab cells reach already 19.9%. One important aspect is the homogeneity of the alloy. Large-scale simulations combining Monte Carlo and density functional calculations show that two phases coexist in thermal equilibrium below room temperature. Only at higher temperatures, CIGS becomes more and more a homogeneous alloy. A larger degree of inhomogeneity for Ga-rich CIGS persists over a wide temperature range, which may contribute to the low observed efficiency of Ga-rich CIGS s…
Motivated by the discovery of multiferroicity in the geometrically frustrated triangular antiferromagnet CuCrO$_2$ below its Néel temperature $T_N$, we investigate its magnetic and ferroelectric properties using ab initio calculations and Monte Carlo simulations. Exchange interactions up to the third nearest neighbors in the $ab$ plane, inter-layer interaction and single ion anisotropy constants in CuCrO$_2$ are estimated by series of density functional theory calculations. In particular, our results evidence a hard axis along the [110] direction due to the lattice distortion that takes place …
The strongly coupled electron liquid provides a unique opportunity to study the complex interplay of strong coupling with quantum degeneracy effects and thermal excitations. To this end, we carry out extensive \textit{ab initio} path integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) simulations to compute the static structure factor, interaction energy, density response function, and the corresponding static local field correction in the range of $20\leq r_s \leq 100$ and $0.5\leq θ\leq 4$. We subsequently compare these data to several dielectric approximations, and find that different schemes are capable to reprod…
The \emph{ab initio} path integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) approach is one of the most successful methods in quantum many-body theory. A particular strength of this method is its straightforward access to imaginary-time correlation functions (ITCF). For example, the well-known density-density ITCF $F(\mathbf{q},τ)$ allows one to estimate the linear response of a given system for all wave vectors $\mathbf{q}$ from a single simulation of the unperturbed system. Moreover, it constitutes the basis for the reconstruction of the dynamic structure factor $S(\mathbf{q},ω)$ -- a key quantity in state-of-the…
In this article, we propose an efficient method for sampling the relevant state space in condensed phase reactions. In the present method, the reaction is described by solving the electronic Schrödinger equation for the solute atoms in the presence of explicit solvent molecules. The sampling algorithm uses a molecular mechanics guiding potential in combination with simulated tempering ideas and allows thorough exploration of the solvent state space in the context of an ab initio calculation even when the dielectric relaxation time of the solvent is long. The method is applied to the study of t…
We present a Nested Markov chain Monte Carlo (NMC) scheme for building equilibrium averages based on accurate potentials such as density functional theory. Metropolis sampling of a reference system, defined by an inexpensive but approximate potential, was used to substantially decorrelate configurations at which the potential of interest was evaluated, thereby dramatically reducing the number needed to build ensemble averages at a given level of precision. The efficiency of this procedure was maximized on-the-fly through variation of the reference system thermodynamic state (characterized here…
QMCPACK is an open source quantum Monte Carlo package for ab-initio electronic structure calculations. It supports calculations of metallic and insulating solids, molecules, atoms, and some model Hamiltonians. Implemented real space quantum Monte Carlo algorithms include variational, diffusion, and reptation Monte Carlo. QMCPACK uses Slater-Jastrow type trial wave functions in conjunction with a sophisticated optimizer capable of optimizing tens of thousands of parameters. The orbital space auxiliary field quantum Monte Carlo method is also implemented, enabling cross validation between differ…
We here apply the recently developed initiator density matrix quantum Monte Carlo (i-DMQMC) to a wide range of chemical environments using atoms and molecules in vacuum. i-DMQMC samples the exact density matrix of a Hamiltonian at finite temperature and combines the accuracy of full configuration interaction quantum Monte Carlo (FCIQMC) - full configuration interaction (FCI) or exact energies in a finite basis set - with finite temperature. By way of exploring the applicability of i-DMQMC for molecular systems, we choose to study a recently developed test set by Rubenstein and coworkers: Be, H…
The properties of hydrogen under extreme conditions are important for many applications, including inertial confinement fusion and astrophysical models. A key quantity is given by the electronic density response to an external perturbation, which is probed in X-ray Thomson scattering (XRTS) experiments -- the state of the art diagnostics from which system parameters like the free electron density $n_e$, the electronic temperature $T_e$, and the charge state $Z$ can be inferred. In this work, we present highly accurate path integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) results for the electronic density response…
We present extensive new \textit{ab intio} path integral Monte Carlo results for the momentum distribution function $n(\mathbf{k})$ of the uniform electron gas (UEG) in the warm dense matter (WDM) regime over a broad range of densities and temperatures. This allows us to study the nontrivial exchange--correlation induced increase of low-momentum states around the Fermi temperature, and to investigate its connection to the related lowering of the kinetic energy compared to the ideal Fermi gas. In addition, we investigate the impact of quantum statistics on both $n(\mathbf{k})$ and the off-diago…
The rigorous description of correlated quantum many-body systems constitutes one of the most challenging tasks in contemporary physics and related disciplines. In this context, a particularly useful tool is the concept of effective pair potentials that take into account the effects of the complex many-body medium consistently. In this work, we present extensive, highly accurate \emph{ab initio} path integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) results for the effective interaction and the effective force between two electrons in the presence of the uniform electron gas (UEG). This gives us a direct insight int…
We perform coupled-cluster and diffusion Monte Carlo calculations of the energies of circular quantum dots up to 20 electrons. The coupled-cluster calculations include triples corrections and a renormalized Coulomb interaction defined for a given number of low-lying oscillator shells. Using such a renormalized Coulomb interaction brings the coupled-cluster calculations with triples correlations in excellent agreement with the diffusion Monte Carlo calculations. This opens up perspectives for doing ab initio calculations for much larger systems of electrons.
We present extensive \textit{ab initio} path integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) simulations of two-dimensional quantum dipole systems in a harmonic confinement, taking into account both Bose- and Fermi-statistics. This allows us to study the nonclassical rotational inertia, which can lead to a negative superfluid fraction in the case of fermions [Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{112}, 235301 (2014)]. Moreover, we study in detail the structural characteristics of such systems, and are able to clearly resolve the impact of quantum statistics on density profiles and the respective shell structure. Further, we p…
Warm dense matter is one of the most active frontiers in plasma physics due to its relevance for dense astrophysical objects as well as for novel laboratory experiments in which matter is being strongly compressed e.g. by high-power lasers. Its description is theoretically very challenging as it contains correlated quantum electrons at finite temperature---a system that cannot be accurately modeled by standard analytical or ground state approaches. Recently several breakthroughs have been achieved in the field of fermionic quantum Monte Carlo simulations. First, it was shown that exact simulat…
Physics Constrained Neural Collision Operators for Variable Hard Sphere Surrogates and Ab Initio Angle Prediction in Direct Simulation Monte Carlo
University of Massachusetts Amherst（马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校）；Ferdowsi University of Mashhad（马什哈德费尔多西大学）；Institute of Mechanics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences（保加利亚科学院力学研究所）；Centre of Excellence in Informatics and Information and Communication Technologies（信息与通信技术卓越中心）
The auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo (AFQMC) method provides a computational framework for solving the time-independent Schroedinger equation in atoms, molecules, solids, and a variety of model systems. AFQMC has recently witnessed remarkable growth, especially as a tool for electronic structure computations in real materials. The method has demonstrated excellent accuracy across a variety of correlated electron systems. Taking the form of stochastic evolution in a manifold of non-orthogonal Slater determinants, the method resembles an ensemble of density-functional theory (DFT) calculation…
Beyond single-reference fixed-node approximation in ab initio Diffusion Monte Carlo using antisymmetrized geminal power applied to systems with hundreds of electrons
A novel method for simulating the statistical mechanics of molecular systems in which both nuclear and electronic degrees of freedom are treated quantum mechanically is presented. The scheme combines a path integral description of the nuclear variables with a first-principles adiabatic description of the electronic structure. The electronic problem is solved for the ground state within a density functional approach, with the electronic orbitals expanded in a localized (Gaussian) basis set. The discretized path integral is computed by a Metropolis Monte Carlo sampling technique on the normal mo…
Enabling ab initio geometry optimization of strongly correlated systems with transferable deep quantum Monte Carlo
FU Berlin, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science（柏林自由大学数学与计算机科学系）；Microsoft Research AI4Science（微软研究院AI4Science）；FU Berlin, Department of Physics（柏林自由大学物理系）；Rice University, Department of Chemistry（莱斯大学化学系）
TurboRVB is a computational package for {\it ab initio} Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations of both molecular and bulk electronic systems. The code implements two types of well established QMC algorithms: Variational Monte Carlo (VMC), and Diffusion Monte Carlo in its robust and efficient lattice regularized variant. A key feature of the code is the possibility of using strongly correlated many-body wave functions. The electronic wave function (WF) is obtained by applying a Jastrow factor, which takes into account dynamical correlations, to the most general mean-field ground state, written e…
Nanomaterials made of the cerium oxides CeO$_2$ and Ce$_2$O$_3$ have a broad range of applications, from catalysts in automotive, industrial or energy operations to promising materials to enhance hadrontherapy effectiveness in oncological treatments. To elucidate the physico-chemical mechanisms involved in these processes, it is of paramount importance to know the electronic excitation spectra of these oxides, which are obtained here through high-accuracy linear-response time-dependent density functional theory calculations. In particular, the macroscopic dielectric response functions $\barε$ …
Recently, it has been shown that neural networks not only approximate the ground-state wave functions of a single molecular system well but can also generalize to multiple geometries. While such generalization significantly speeds up training, each energy evaluation still requires Monte Carlo integration which limits the evaluation to a few geometries. In this work, we address the inference shortcomings by proposing the Potential learning from ab-initio Networks (PlaNet) framework, in which we simultaneously train a surrogate model in addition to the neural wave function. At inference time, th…
We propose a streamlined combination scheme of the transcorrelation (TC) and coupled cluster (CC) theory, which not only increases the convergence rate with respect to the basis set, but also extends the applicability of the lowest order CC approximations to strongly correlated regimes in the three dimensional uniform electron gas (3D UEG). With the correct physical insights built into the correlator used in TC, highly accurate ground state energies with errors $\leq 0.001 $ a.u./electron relative to the state-of-the-art quantum Monte Carlo results can be obtained across a wide range of densit…
Given access to accurate solutions of the many-electron Schrödinger equation, nearly all chemistry could be derived from first principles. Exact wavefunctions of interesting chemical systems are out of reach because they are NP-hard to compute in general, but approximations can be found using polynomially-scaling algorithms. The key challenge for many of these algorithms is the choice of wavefunction approximation, or Ansatz, which must trade off between efficiency and accuracy. Neural networks have shown impressive power as accurate practical function approximators and promise as a compact wa…
In this work we compare Monte Carlo (MC) simulations of electron transport properties with reflection electron energy loss measurements in diamond and graphite films. We assess the impact of different approximations of the dielectric response on the observables of interest for the characterization of carbon-based materials. We calculate the frequency-dependent dielectric response and energy loss function of these materials in two ways: a full ab initio approach, in which we carry out time-dependent density functional simulations in linear response for different momentum transfers, and a semi-c…
We show an $\textit{ab initio}$ construction of the energy density functional (EDF) for electron systems using the functional renormalization group. The correlation energies of the homogeneous electron gas given in our framework reproduce the exact behavior at high density and agree with the Monte-Carlo data in a wide range of densities. Our analytic technique enables us to get the correlation energies efficiently for various densities, which realizes the determination of EDF in the local density approximation (LDA) without any fitting for physically relevant densities. Applied to the Kohn-Sha…
We propose an ab-initio molecular dynamics method, capable to reduce dramatically the autocorrelation time required for the simulation of classical and quantum particles at finite temperature. The method is based on an efficient implementation of a first order Langevin dynamics modified by means of a suitable, position dependent acceleration matrix $S$. Here we apply this technique, within a Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) based wavefuntion approach and within the Born-Oppheneimer approximation, for determining the phase diagram of high-pressure Hydrogen with simulations much longer than the autocor…
Computer simulation methods, such as Monte Carlo or Molecular Dynamics, are very powerful computational techniques that provide detailed and essentially exact information on classical many-body problems. With the advent of ab-initio molecular dynamics, where the forces are computed on-the-fly by accurate electronic structure calculations, the scope of either method has been greatly extended. This new approach, which unifies Newton's and Schrödinger's equations, allows for complex simulations without relying on any adjustable parameter. This review is intended to outline the basic principles as…
