Spin-projected matrix product states (SP-MPS): a versatile tool for strongly correlated systems

Abstract

We present a new wavefunction ansatz that combines the technique of spin projection with the language of matrix product states (MPS) and matrix product operators (MPO) as used in the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG). Specifically, spin-projected matrix product states (SP-MPS) are constructed as |Ψ^(N,S,M)_SP−MPS⟩=P_S|Ψ(N,M)_MPS⟩, where P_S is the spin projector for total spin S and |Ψ(N,M)MPS⟩ is an MPS wavefunction with a given particle number N and spin projection M. This new ansatz possesses several attractive features: (1) It provides a much simpler route to achieve spin-adaptation (i.e. to create eigenfunctions of Ŝ^2) compared to explicitly incorporating the non-Abelian SU(2) symmetry into the MPS. In particular, since the underlying state |Ψ(N,M)MPS⟩ in the SP-MPS uses only Abelian symmetries, one does not need the singlet embedding scheme for non-singlet states, as normally employed in spin-adapted DMRG, to achieve a single consistent variationally optimized state. (2) SP-MPS are closely connected to broken symmetry mean-field states. This allows to straightforwardly generate the large number of broken symmetry guesses needed to explore complex electronic landscapes in magnetic systems. Further, this connection can be exploited in the future development of quantum embedding theories for open-shell systems. (3) The sum of MPOs representation for the Hamiltonian and spin projector P_S naturally leads to an embarrassingly parallel algorithm for computing expectation values and optimizing SP-MPS. (4) Optimizing SP-MPS belongs to the variation-after-projection (VAP) class of spin projected theories. Unlike usual spin projected theories based on determinants, the SP-MPS ansatz can be made essentially exact simply by increasing the bond dimensions in |Ψ(N,M)MPS⟩. Computing excited states is also simple by imposing orthogonality constraints, which are simple to implement with MPS. To illustrate the versatility of SP-MPS, we formulate algorithms for the optimization of ground and excited states, develop perturbation theory based on SP-MPS, and describe how to evaluate spin-independent and spin-dependent properties such as the reduced density matrices. We demonstrate the numerical performance of SP-MPS with applications to several models typical of strong correlation, including the Hubbard model, and [2Fe-2S] and [4Fe-4S] model complexes.

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