Goldsborough, Andrew M. (2015) Tensor networks and geometry for the modelling of disordered quantum many-body systems. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

Tensor networks provide a powerful and elegant approach to quantum manybody simulation. The simplest example is the density matrix renormalisation group (DMRG), which is based on the variational update of a matrix product state (MPS). It has proved to be the most accurate approach for the numerical study of strongly correlated one dimensional systems. We use DMRG to study the one dimensional disordered Bose-Hubbard model at fillings N=L = 1=2, 1 and 2 and show that the whole phase diagram for each can be successfully obtained by analysing entanglement properties alone. We �nd that the average entanglement is insufficient to accurately locate all of the phases, however using the standard error on the mean we are able to construct a phase diagram that is consistent with previous studies.

It has recently been shown that there is a connection between the geometry of tensor networks and the entanglement and correlation properties that it can encode, which is a generalisation of the so called area law for entanglement entropy. This suggests that whilst gapped quantum systems can be accurately modeled using an MPS, a tensor network with a holographic geometry is natural to capture the logarithmic entanglement scaling and power law decaying correlation functions of critical systems. We create an algorithm for the disordered Heisenberg Hamiltonian that self assembles a tensor network based on the disorder in the couplings. The geometry created is that of a disordered tree tensor network (TTN) that when averaged has the holographic properties characteristic of critical systems.

We continue the analysis of holographic tensor network geometry by considering the average length of leaf-to-leaf paths in various tree graphs, which is related to two-point correlation functions in tensor networks. For regular, complete trees we analytically calculate the average path length and all statistical moments, and generalise it for any splitting number. We then turn to the Catalan trees, which is the set of unique binary trees with n vertices, as it has a similar geometry to the disordered TTNs. We calculate the average depth of a leaf and show that it is equal to the average path length. We compare these analytic results with the structures found in the TTN and randomly constructed trees to show that the renormalisation involved in the TTN algorithm is crucial in the selection of the tree structure.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	Q Science > QC Physics
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Many-body problem, Tensor fields, Density matrices
Official Date:	July 2015
Dates:	Date Event July 2015 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Physics
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Römer, Rudolf A.
Extent:	xiii, 190 leaves : illustrations (colour), charts
Language:	eng

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