arXiv subjects

Benjamin Cohen-Stead

Publications and source records attributed to Benjamin Cohen-Stead.

18 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

SmoQyElPhQMC.jl: An open-source Julia package for efficient and scalable quantum Monte Carlo simulations of electron-phonon coupled models

We introduce version 1.0 of the SmoQyElPhQMC package, an open-source Julia code for performing scalable quantum Monte Carlo simulations of electron-phonon coupled model Hamiltonians. SmoQyElPhQMC is built upon the SmoQyDQMC codebase and implements improved versions of the algorithms presented in [B. Cohen-Stead \textit{et al}., Phys. Rev. E {\bf 105}, 065302 (2022)] to enable linear-scaling simulations of a broad class of uncorrelated $e$-ph models both in system size and inverse temperature. By extending the functionality of the flexible scripting interface introduced in SmoQyDQMC, the SmoQyElPhQMC package continues to allow users to adapt it to different workflows and interface with other software packages in the Julia ecosystem. The code for this package can be downloaded from our GitHub repository at https://github.com/SmoQySuite/SmoQyElPhQMC.jl or installed using the Julia package manager. The online documentation, including examples, can be obtained from our documentation page at https://smoqysuite.github.io/SmoQyElPhQMC.jl/stable/.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

The optical Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model on a triangular lattice

We study the triangular lattice optical Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) model using determinant quantum Monte Carlo. By varying the model's carrier concentration, electron-phonon coupling strength, and phonon energy $\Omega$, we identify two doping regimes of interest. At one-quarter filling ($\langle n\rangle = 0.5$), corresponding to the case of a circular noninteracting Fermi surface, we find evidence for a metal to insulating bond-order-wave (BOW) phase transition that breaks a local $C_6$ rotational symmetry. Conversely, at three-quarters filling ($\langle n\rangle = 1.5$), corresponding to a hexagonal Fermi surface, we find evidence for transitions to another BOW phase for small $\Omega$ and an $s$-wave superconducting phase for sufficiently large $\Omega$. This tendency toward pairing appears to be associated with the possibility of a sign change in the effective intersite hopping, which can occur for sufficiently large lattice displacements. We also find no evidence for enhanced magnetic correlations in the model, contrary to what has been reported for square lattice SSH models.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

SmoQyDQMC.jl: A flexible implementation of determinant quantum Monte Carlo for Hubbard and electron-phonon interactions (version 2.0 release)

We introduce version 2.0 of the SmoQyDQMC.jl package, a Julia implementation of the determinant quantum Monte Carlo algorithm. SmoQyDQMC.jl supports generalized tight-binding Hamiltonians with local and extended Hubbard and generalized electron-phonon (e-ph) interactions, including non-linear e-ph coupling and anharmonic lattice potentials. Our implementation uses an optimized hybrid Monte Carlo method with exact forces to efficiently sample the phonon fields, enabling the simulation of low-energy phonon branches, including acoustic phonons. The SmoQyDQMC.jl package also uses a flexible scripting interface, allowing users to adapt it to different workflows and interface with other software packages in the Julia ecosystem. The code for this package can be downloaded from our GitHub repository at https://github.com/SmoQySuite/SmoQyDQMC.jl or installed using the Julia package manager. The online documentation, including examples, is found at https://smoqysuite.github.io/SmoQyDQMC.jl/stable/.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Charge Order in the half-filled bond-Holstein Model

We use determinant quantum Monte Carlo to study the half-filled `bond-Holstein' model on a square lattice. We find that the model exhibits a charge-density-wave (CDW) phase transition with a critical temperature $T_\mathrm{cdw}$ considerably higher than that of the canonical `site-Holstein' model. Using a finite-size scaling analysis of the charge structure factor $S_{\rm cdw}$, we obtain $T_\mathrm{cdw}$ to greater than one percent accuracy. At the same time, local observables also show clear signatures consistent with the transition temperatures inferred from our scaling analysis. We attribute the enhanced CDW tendencies to a phonon-mediated nearest-neighbor electron repulsion that is directly proportional to the dimensionless electron-phonon coupling $λ$ in the atomic ($t\rightarrow 0$) limit. This behavior contrasts with the site-Holstein case, where the same limit yields only an on-site attraction. We supplement our analysis with results from several unsupervised machine learning methods, which not only confirm our estimates of $T_\mathrm{cdw}$ but also provide insight into the high-temperature crossover between a metallic and bipolaron liquid regime.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Antiferromagnetism and Kekulé valence bond order in the honeycomb optical Su-Schrieffer-Heeger-Hubbard model

The precise role of e-ph coupling in graphene and related materials on a honeycomb lattice is not yet fully understood, despite extensive research on these systems. Here, we perform sign-problem-free determinant quantum Monte Carlo (DQMC) simulations of the optical Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (oSSH)-Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice, focusing on the parameters relevant to graphene. Performing finite-size scaling analyzes, we obtain the model's ground state phase diagram, which includes the semi-metal (SM), Kekulé Valence Bond Solid (KVBS), and anti-ferromagnetic (AFM) phases, as well as indications of a small KVBS/AFM coexistence region. We find that a weak to moderate Hubbard repulsion, tuned toward the SM-AFM critical value in the pure honeycomb Hubbard model, enhances KVBS correlations and can even stabilize the KVBS phase. Estimating the effective parameters for graphene places it in the SM region of the phase diagram, but near the SM-KVBS phase boundary. Notably, we predict that increasing either the on-site Hubbard repulsion or the e-ph coupling strength drives graphene toward the KVBS phase rather than the AFM phase, highlighting a synergistic effect that can be exploited to further control the remarkable properties of graphene and related materials.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Persistence of small polarons into the superconducting phase of Ba$_{1-x}$K$_x$BiO$_3$

Bipolaronic superconductivity is an exotic pairing mechanism proposed for materials like Ba$_{1-x}$K$_x$BiO$_3$ (BKBO); however, conclusive experimental evidence for a (bi)polaron metallic state in this material remains elusive. Here, we combine resonant inelastic x-ray and neutron total scattering techniques with advanced modelling to study the local lattice distortions, electronic structure, and electron-phonon coupling ($e$-ph) in BKBO as a function of doping. Data for the parent compound ($x = 0$) indicates that the electronic gap opens in predominantly oxygen-derived states strongly coupled to a long-range ordered breathing distortion of the oxygen sublattice. Upon doping, short-range breathing distortions and sizable ($e$-ph) coupling persist into the superconducting regime ($x = 0.4$). Comparisons with exact diagonalization and determinant quantum Monte Carlo calculations further support this conclusion. Our results provide compelling evidence that BKBO's metallic phase hosts a liquid of small (bi)polarons derived from local breathing distortions of the lattice, with implications for understanding the low-temperature superconducting instability

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2025

Optimizing the Critical Temperature and Superfluid Density of a Metal-Superconductor Bilayer

A promising path to realizing higher superconducting transition temperatures $T_c$ is the strategic engineering of artificial heterostructures. For example, quantum materials could, in principle, be coupled with other materials to produce a more robust superconducting state. In this work, we add numerical support to the hypothesis that a strongly interacting superconductor weakened by phase fluctuations can boost its $T_c$ by hybridizing the system with a metal. Using determinant quantum Monte Carlo (DQMC), we simulate a two-dimensional bilayer composed of an attractive Hubbard model and a metallic layer in two regimes of the interaction strength $-|U|$. In the strongly interacting regime, we find that increasing the interlayer hybridization $t_\perp$ results in a nonmonotonic enhancement of $T_c$, with an optimal value comparable to the maximum $T_c$ observed in the single-layer attractive Hubbard model, confirming trends inferred from other approaches. In the intermediate coupling regime, when $-|U|$ is close to the value associated with the maximum $T_c$ of the single-layer model, increasing $t_\perp$ tends to decrease $T_c$, implying that the correlated layer was already optimally tuned. Importantly, we demonstrate that the mechanism behind these trends is related to enhancement in the superfluid stiffness, as was initially proposed by Kivelson [Physica B: Condensed Matter 318, 61 (2002)].

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2025

Antiferromagnetic and bond-order-wave phases in the half-filled two-dimensional optical Su-Schrieffer-Heeger-Hubbard model

Electron-phonon ($e$-ph) interactions arise in many strongly correlated quantum materials from the modulation of the nearest-neighbor hopping integrals, as in the celebrated Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) model. Nevertheless, relatively few non-perturbative studies of correlated SSH models have been conducted in dimensions greater than one, and those that have been done have primarily focused on bond models, where generalized displacements independently modulate each hopping integral. We conducted a sign-problem free determinant quantum Monte Carlo study of the optical SSH-Hubbard model on a two-dimensional square lattice, where site-centered phonon modes simultaneously modulate pairs of nearest-neighbor hopping integrals. We report the model's low-temperature phase diagram in the challenging adiabatic regime ($Ω/E_\mathrm{F} \sim 1/8$). It exhibits insulating antiferromagnetic Mott and bond-order-wave (BOW) phases with a narrow region of coexistence between them. We also find that a critical $e$-ph coupling is required to stabilize the BOW phase in the small $U$ limit. Lastly, in stark contrast to recent findings for the model's bond variant, we find no evidence for a long-range antiferromagnetism in the pure $(U/t=0)$ optical SSH model.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

SmoQyDEAC.jl: A differential evolution package for the analytic continuation of imaginary time correlation functions

We introduce the SmoQyDEAC.jl package, a Julia implementation of the Differential Evolution Analytic Continuation (DEAC) algorithm [N. S. Nichols et al., Phys. Rev. E 106, 025312 (2022)] for analytically continuing noisy imaginary time correlation functions to the real frequency axis. Our implementation supports fermionic and bosonic correlation functions on either the imaginary time or Matsubara frequency axes, and treatment of the covariance error in the input data. This paper presents an overview of the DEAC algorithm and the features implemented in the SmoQyDEAC.jl. It also provides detailed benchmarks of the package's output against the popular maximum entropy and stochastic analytic continuation methods. The code for this package can be downloaded from our GitHub repository at https://github.com/SmoQySuite/SmoQyDEAC.jl or installed using the Julia package manager. The online documentation, including examples, can be accessed at https://smoqysuite.github.io/SmoQyDEAC.jl/stable/.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2024

Kekulé valence bond order in the honeycomb lattice optical Su-Schrieffer-Heeger Model and its relevance to Graphene

We perform sign-problem-free determinant quantum Monte Carlo simulations of the optical Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) model on a half-filled honeycomb lattice. In particular, we investigate the model's semi-metal (SM) to Kekul{é} Valence Bond Solid (KVBS) phase transition at zero and finite temperatures as a function of phonon energy and interaction strength. Using hybrid Monte Carlo sampling methods we can simulate the model near the adiabatic regime, allowing us to access regions of parameter space relevant to graphene. Our simulations suggest that the SM-KVBS transition is weakly first-order at all temperatures, with graphene situated close to the phase boundary in the SM region of the phase diagram. Our results highlight the important role bond-stretching phonon modes play in the formation of KVBS order in strained graphene-derived systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

A comparative study of the superconductivity in the Holstein and optical Su-Schrieffer-Heeger models

Theoretical studies suggest that Su-Schrieffer-Heeger-like electron-phonon ($e$-ph) interactions can mediate high-temperature bipolaronic superconductivity that is robust against repulsive electron-electron interactions. Here we present a comparative analysis of the pairing and competing charge/bond correlations in the two-dimensional Holstein and optical Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) models using numerically exact determinant quantum Monte Carlo. We find that the SSH interactions support light bipolarons and strong superconducting correlations out to relatively large values of the $e$-ph coupling $λ$ and densities near half-filling, while the Holstein interaction does not due to the formation of heavy bipolarons and competing charge-density-wave order. We further find that the Holstein and SSH models have comparable pairing correlations in the weak coupling limit for carrier concentrations $\langle n \rangle \ll 1$, where competing orders and polaronic effects are absent. These results support the proposal that SSH (bi)polarons can support superconductivity to larger values of $λ$ in comparison to the Holstein polaron, but that the resulting $T_\mathrm{c}$ gains are small in the weak coupling limit. We also find that the SSH model's pairing correlations are suppressed after including a weak on-site Hubbard repulsion. These results have important implications for identifying and engineering bipolaronic superconductivity.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2023

A comparative determinant quantum Monte Carlo study of the acoustic and optical variants of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model

We compare the acoustic Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) model with two of its optical variants where the phonons are defined on either on the sites or bonds of the system. First, we discuss how to make fair comparisons between these models in any dimension by ensuring their dimensionless coupling $λ$ and relevant phonon energies are the same. We then use determinant quantum Monte Carlo to perform non-perturbative and sign-problem-free simulations of all three models on one-dimensional chains at and away from half-filling. By comparing the results obtained from each model, we demonstrate that the optical and acoustic models produce near identical results within error bars for suitably chosen phonon energies and $λ$ at half-filling. In contrast, the bond model has quantitatively different behavior due to its coupling to the $q = 0$ phonon mode. These differences also manifest in the total length of the chain, which shrinks for the bond model but not for the acoustic and optical models when $λ\neq 0$. Our results have important implications for quantum Monte Carlo modeling of SSH-like interactions, where these models are sometimes regarded as being interchangeable

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Charge order in the kagome lattice Holstein model: A hybrid Monte Carlo study

The Holstein model is a paradigmatic description of the electron-phonon interaction, in which electrons couple to local dispersionless phonon modes, independent of momentum. The model has been shown to host a variety of ordered ground states such as charge density wave (CDW) order and superconductivity on several geometries, including the square, honeycomb, and Lieb lattices. In this work, we study CDW formation in the Holstein model on the kagome lattice, using a recently developed hybrid Monte Carlo simulation method. We present evidence for $\sqrt{3} \times \sqrt{3}$ CDW order at an average electron filling of $\langle n \rangle =2/3$ per site, with an ordering wavevector at the $K$-points of the Brillouin zone. We estimate a phase transition occurring at $T_{c}\approx t/18$, where $t$ is the nearest-neighbor hopping parameter. Our simulations find no signature of CDW order at other electron fillings or ordering momenta for temperatures $T \geq t/20$.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

A hybrid Monte Carlo study of bond-stretching electron-phonon interactions and charge order in BaBiO$_3$

The relationship between electron-phonon ($e$-ph) interactions and charge-density-wave (CDW) order in the bismuthate family of high-temperature superconductors remains unresolved. We address this question using nonperturbative hybrid Monte Carlo calculations for the parent compound BaBiO$_3$. Our model includes the Bi $6s$ and O $2p_σ$ orbitals and coupling to the Bi-O bond-stretching branch of optical phonons via modulations of the Bi-O hopping integral. We simulate three-dimensional clusters of up to 4000 orbitals, with input model parameters taken from {\it ab initio} electronic structure calculations and a phonon energy $\hbarΩ_0 = 60$~meV. Our results demonstrate that the coupling to the bond-stretching modes is sufficient to reproduce the CDW transition in this system, despite a relatively small dimensionless coupling. We also find that the transition deviates from the weak-coupling Peierls' picture. This work demonstrates that off-diagonal $e$-ph interactions in orbital space are vital in establishing the bismuthate phase diagram.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

A flexible class of exact Hubbard-Stratonovich transformations

We consider a class of Hubbard-Stratonovich transformations suitable for treating Hubbard interactions in the context of quantum Monte Carlo simulations. A tunable parameter $p$ allows us to continuously vary from a discrete Ising auxiliary field ($p=\infty$) to a compact auxiliary field that couples to electrons sinusoidally ($p=0$). In tests on the single-band Hubbard model, we find that the severity of the sign problem decreases systematically with increasing $p$. Selecting $p$ finite, however, enables continuous sampling methods like the Langevin or Hamiltonian Monte Carlo methods. We explore the tradeoffs between various simulation methods through numerical benchmarks.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Charge correlations suppress unconventional pairing in the Holstein model

In a recent work by Schrodi $\textit{et al}$. [Phys. Rev. B. $\textbf{104}$, L140506 (2021)], the authors find an unconventional superconducting state with a sign-changing order parameter using the Migdal-Eliashberg theory, including the first vertex correction. This unconventional solution arises despite using an isotropic bare electron-phonon coupling in the Hamiltonian. We examine this claim using hybrid quantum Monte Carlo for a single-band Holstein model with a cuprate-like noninteracting band structure and identical parameters to Schrodi $\textit{et al}$.. Our Monte Carlo results for these parameters suggest that unconventional pairing correlations do not exceed their noninteracting values at any carrier concentration we have checked. Instead, strong charge-density-wave correlations persist at the lowest accessible temperatures for dilute and nearly half-filled bands. Lastly, we present arguments for how vertex-corrected Migdal-Eliashberg calculation schemes can lead to uncontrolled results in the presence of Fermi surface nesting.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2022

Fast and scalable quantum Monte Carlo simulations of electron-phonon models

We introduce methodologies for highly scalable quantum Monte Carlo simulations of electron-phonon models, and report benchmark results for the Holstein model on the square lattice. The determinant quantum Monte Carlo (DQMC) method is a widely used tool for simulating simple electron-phonon models at finite temperatures, but incurs a computational cost that scales cubically with system size. Alternatively, near-linear scaling with system size can be achieved with the hybrid Monte Carlo (HMC) method and an integral representation of the Fermion determinant. Here, we introduce a collection of methodologies that make such simulations even faster. To combat "stiffness" arising from the bosonic action, we review how Fourier acceleration can be combined with time-step splitting. To overcome phonon sampling barriers associated with strongly-bound bipolaron formation, we design global Monte Carlo updates that approximately respect particle-hole symmetry. To accelerate the iterative linear solver, we introduce a preconditioner that becomes exact in the adiabatic limit of infinite atomic mass. Finally, we demonstrate how stochastic measurements can be accelerated using fast Fourier transforms. These methods are all complementary and, combined, may produce multiple orders of magnitude speedup, depending on model details.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Dynamical tuning of the chemical potential to achieve a target particle number in grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations

We present a method to facilitate Monte Carlo simulations in the grand canonical ensemble given a target mean particle number. The method imposes a fictitious dynamics on the chemical potential, to be run concurrently with the Monte Carlo sampling of the physical system. Corrections to the chemical potential are made according to time-averaged estimates of the mean and variance of the particle number, with the latter being proportional to thermodynamic compressibility. We perform a variety of tests, and in all cases find rapid convergence of the chemical potential -- inexactness of the tuning algorithm contributes only a minor part of the total measurement error for realistic simulations.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗