Learning the Fermion sign structure in path-integral Monte Carlo

Abstract

Starting from a \emph{probabilistic numerics} approach to the Fermion sign problem in path integral Monte Carlo, we recast the arithmetic calculation of a Fermionic observable as a statistical inference problem. We develop approaches that learn the behaviour of Fermion exchange cycles binned by the conjugacy class of the permutation group (which we term `permutation family'). This extends the work of DuBois, Brown and Alder\cite{dubois2017overcoming} to inhomogeneous and more complex systems. Monte Carlo samples are used to train models for both the probability of a permutation family and the energy of this set of exchange permutations. The overall Fermionic energy is then directly inferred from these models, without using a direct ratio estimator on the Monte Carlo samples. By imposing physical understanding as inductive priors, we produce accurate and useful fits that remain robust even in regimes with severe sign problems. We generalise the linear (ideal-gas style) models of DuBois et al. with Bayesian priors that enforce the intuitive models of Feynman\cite{Feynman1953A} at their asymptotic limits. These linear models serve as the baseline for a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) neural network, which is tasked with learning only the residual many-body \emph{correlations} on top of the physical model. We develop active important sampling methods driven by these models, which direct the Monte Carlo chains toward undersampled permutation regions, to efficiently reduce the variance in the observable. We apply this framework to small experiments on benchmark systems: the spin-polarised uniform electron gas, and electrons in a 2D harmonic confining potential. In both cases we demonstrate that this inference-based framework can extract stable energies in regimes where direct Monte Carlo sampling fails due to the sign problem.