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Huanchen Zhai

Publications and source records attributed to Huanchen Zhai.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Coupled-Cluster Imaginary-Time Evolution and the Coupled-Cluster Energy Variance

We discuss a coupled-cluster formalism for carrying out imaginary-time evolution from an arbitrary reference, and study the properties of the resulting evolution trajectories. The evolution converges to a solution of the standard coupled-cluster amplitude equations in the long-time limit if a finite valued limit exists, but when such a limit does not exist, the trajectories still contain additional information beyond the standard solutions. We introduce the coupled-cluster energy variance which through its minima identifies physically regularized coupled-cluster amplitudes when the solutions of the amplitude equations are unreasonable. We demonstrate the value of this formalism in several exploratory examples within single- and multi-reference coupled-cluster formulations.

physics.chem-ph

Reaching the thermodynamic limit of periodic CCSD cohesive energies and band gaps

The high computational cost of periodic coupled-cluster theory has limited the density of Brillouin zone sampling, yielding finite-size errors that need to be removed by extrapolation. Here we report the development and application of a distributed-memory software implementation of periodic coupled-cluster theory with single and double excitations (CCSD) that runs efficiently on up to 12 nodes with 96 cores each. This new implementation allows ground-state and excited-state calculations in which the Brillouin zone is sampled with up to $6^3=216$ $k$-points, allowing us to reliably extrapolate to the thermodynamic limit. For eight simple semiconductors and insulators, we report the cohesive energy and band gap, which are converged to 0.1 eV, providing definitive benchmark numbers for the CCSD level of theory. Compared to experimental values, average errors for the cohesive energy are 0.1-0.2 eV (typically an underestimate), and average errors for the band gap are about 0.4 eV (typically an overestimate).

physics.chem-ph

High-performance parallel implementation of high-order coupled-cluster theories

High-order coupled-cluster theories with iterative triples (CCSDT), perturbative quadruples [CCSDT(Q)], and iterative quadruples (CCSDTQ) provide benchmark-quality correlation energies, but their steep computational scalings, $O(N^8), O(N^9)$, and $O(N^{10})$, together with the large memory requirements of high-order amplitude tensors, have historically limited their application to small molecules. In this work, we develop efficient open-source implementations of spin-restricted CCSDT (RCCSDT), RCCSDT(Q), RCCSDTQ, and spin-unrestricted CCSDT (UCCSDT) within the PySCF package. The shared-memory implementation combines compact triangular storage of the highest-order amplitude tensors with the multithreaded tensor contraction backend pytblis, enabling efficient use of modern many-core CPU architectures. This design delivers near-ideal thread scaling up to 90 cores and achieves wall times shorter than or comparable to existing single-node implementations for representative benchmark molecules. We further extend RCCSDT, RCCSDT(Q), and RCCSDTQ to distributed-memory architectures using MPI-based algorithms. By distributing compact high-order amplitudes across MPI ranks and overlapping communication with computation through nonblocking data transfers, the distributed implementation achieves near-ideal strong scaling on up to 32 nodes, corresponding to approximately 3,000 CPU cores. These developments substantially extend the practical reach of canonical high-order CC theory, enabling CCSDT(Q) calculations with approximately 100 correlated electrons in 450 orbitals and CCSDTQ calculations with approximately 50 correlated electrons in 115 orbitals. Applications to $π$-stacked noncovalent dimers, the CO dissociation energy of Cr(CO)$_6$, and the Cope rearrangement of semibullvalene demonstrate that canonical high-order CC benchmarks are now feasible for chemically realistic molecular systems.

physics.chem-ph

Classical computational simulation of the FeMo-cofactor model to chemical accuracy and its implications

We use classical computational methods to estimate the ground-state energy to chemical accuracy in a model of the FeMo-cofactor of nitrogenase which is widely studied as a target of quantum computing. Our result relies on the insight that the ground-state problem can be characterized as one of ranking many competing, but largely simple, states. This allows a combination of systematic high-order coupled cluster and density matrix renormalization group calculations together with an extrapolation protocol to obtain an accurate energy. Within the model we identify several spin isomer candidates for the ground-state that are degenerate to chemical accuracy. Beyond this model, we characterize the impact of additional electronic excitations and the cluster and protein geometric fluctuations on the low-lying electronic landscape. We find that many features of the landscape are retained in more detailed representations of nitrogenase, which points to the complexity of spectroscopic interpretations of the electronic structure of the FeMo-cofactor.

physics.chem-ph

Can phaseless auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo with broken symmetry trials describe iron-sulfur clusters?

Phaseless auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo (AFQMC) has in several cases been found to perform well on strongly correlated systems. Here, we benchmark the method for three iron-sulfur clusters ([2Fe-2S], [4Fe-4S], and the FeMo cofactor) using a hierarchy of trial states derived from coupled cluster (CC) theory, including up to quadruple excitations, as well as multi-Slater trial states derived from the density matrix renormalization group. Our results reveal for these systems that, as the symmetry-broken trial is improved, the phaseless AFQMC energy can become less accurate, and in some cases even less accurate than the underlying trial projected energy, displaying an inverted energy pattern that is only corrected once the trial fidelity is sufficiently high. For [2Fe-2S], we show that this can coincide with a simultaneous improvement in the trial state and the walker ensemble. We further find that this is not solely due to the use of spin-unrestricted trial states, as the inversion persists in [2Fe-2S] when we explicitly break the symmetry of the Hamiltonian by applying a fictitious spin-Zeeman field. Instead, we find that the energy inversion is related to the choice of measurement trial, where using a high-order CC trial state for measurements may introduce errors that are suppressed when the measurement wave function is restricted to lower excitation subspaces. In particular, measuring the energy with the mean-field reference while guiding the walkers with a CC trial improves the overall accuracy across the iron-sulfur clusters, with a possible exception for [4Fe-4S]. Taken together, our findings suggest that the relatively accurate energies obtained with an HF trial state in these systems arise from favorable error cancellation, warranting significant caution about the reliability of phaseless AFQMC with such trials for strongly correlated transition-metal systems of this kind.

physics.chem-ph

The Python Simulations of Chemistry Framework: 10 years of an open-source quantum chemistry project

Over the past decade, the Python-based Simulations of Chemistry Framework (PySCF) has developed into a widely used open-source platform for electronic structure theory and quantum chemical method development. This article reviews the major advances since the previous overview in 2020, covering new modules and methodology, infrastructure changes, and performance benchmarks.

physics.chem-ph

Fermionic tensor network contraction for arbitrary geometries

We describe our implementation of fermionic tensor network contraction on arbitrary lattices within both a globally ordered and locally ordered formalism. We provide a pedagogical description of these two conventions as implemented for the quimb library. Using hyperoptimized approximate contraction strategies, we present benchmark fermionic projected entangled pair states simulations of finite Hubbard models defined on the three-dimensional diamond lattice and random regular graphs.

quant-ph

Towards an exact electronic quantum many-body treatment of Kondo correlation in magnetic impurities

The Kondo effect is a prototypical quantum phenomenon arising from the interaction between localized electrons in a magnetic impurity and itinerant electrons in a metallic host. Although it has served as the testing ground for quantum many-body methods for decades, the precise description of Kondo physics with material specificity remains challenging. Here, we present a systematic ab initio approach to converge towards an exact zero-temperature electronic treatment of Kondo correlations. Across a series of 3d transition metals, we extract Kondo temperatures matching the subtle experimental trends, with an accuracy exceeding that of standard models. We further obtain microscopic insight into the origin of these trends. More broadly, we demonstrate the possibility to start from fully ab initio many-body simulations and push towards the realm of converged predictions.

cond-mat.str-el

Towards Excitations and Dynamical Quantities in Correlated Lattices with Density Matrix Embedding Theory

Density matrix embedding theory (DMET) provides a framework to describe ground-state expectation values in strongly correlated systems, but its extension to dynamical quantities is still an open problem. We show one route to obtaining excitations and dynamical spectral functions by using the techniques of DMET to approximate the matrix elements that arise in a single-mode inspired excitation ansatz. We demonstrate this approach in the 1D Hubbard model, comparing the neutral excitations, single-particle density of states, charge, and spin dynamical structure factors to benchmarks from the Bethe ansatz and density matrix renormalization group. Our work highlights the potential of these ideas in building computationally efficient approaches for dynamical quantities.

cond-mat.str-el

Accurate Simulation of the Hubbard Model with Finite Fermionic Projected Entangled Pair States

We demonstrate the use of finite-size fermionic projected entangled pair states, in conjunction with variational Monte Carlo, to perform accurate simulations of the ground-state of the 2D Hubbard model. Using bond dimensions of up to $D=28$, we show that we can surpass state-of-the-art DMRG energies that use up to $m=32000$ SU(2) multiplets on 8-leg ladders. We further apply our methodology to $10\times 16$, $12\times 16$ and $16 \times 16$ lattices at $1/8$ hole doping and observe the dimensional crossover between stripe orientations. Our work shows the power of finite-size fermionic tensor networks to resolve the physics of the 2D Hubbard model and related problems.

cond-mat.str-el

Quantum Many-Body Linear Algebra, Hamiltonian Moments, and a Coupled Cluster Inspired Framework

We propose a general strategy to develop quantum many-body approximations of primitives in linear algebra algorithms. As a practical example, we introduce a coupled-cluster inspired framework to produce approximate Hamiltonian moments, and demonstrate its application in various linear algebra algorithms for ground state estimation. Through numerical examples, we illustrate the difference between the ground-state energies arising from quantum many-body linear algebra and those from the analogous many-body perturbation theory. Our results support the general idea of designing quantum many-body approximations outside of perturbation theory, providing a route to new algorithms and approximations.

physics.chem-ph

Driven similarity renormalization group with a large active space: Applications to oligoacenes, zeaxanthin, and chromium dimer

We present a new implementation of the driven similarity renormalization group (DSRG) based on a density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) reference. The explicit build of high-order reduced density matrices is avoided by forming matrix-product-state compressed intermediates. This algorithm facilitates the application of DSRG second- and third-order perturbation theories to dodecacene with an active space of 50 electrons in 50 orbitals. This active space appears the largest employed to date within the framework of internally contracted multireference formalism. The DMRG-DSRG approach is applied to several challenging systems, including the singlet-triplet gaps ($Δ_{\rm ST}$) of oligoacenes ranging from naphthalene to dodecacene, the vertical excitation energies of zeaxanthin, and the ground-state potential energy curve (PEC) of Cr$_2$ molecule. Our best estimate for the vertical $Δ_{\rm ST}$ of dodecacene is 0.22 eV, showing an excellent agreement with that of the linearized adiabatic connection method (0.24 eV). For zeaxanthin, all DSRG schemes suggest the order of $\rm 2\, ^1 A_g^- < 1\, ^1 B_u^+ < 1\, ^1 B_u^-$ for excited states. Both the equilibrium and the shoulder regions of the Cr$_2$ PEC are reasonably reproduced by the linearized DSRG with one- and two-body operators.

physics.chem-ph

Ab initio quantum many-body description of superconducting trends in the cuprates

Using a systematic ab initio quantum many-body approach that goes beyond low-energy models, we directly compute the superconducting pairing order and estimate the pairing gap of several doped cuprate materials and structures within a purely electronic picture. We find that we can correctly capture two well-known trends: the pressure effect, where the pairing order and gap increase with intra-layer pressure, and the layer effect, where the pairing order and gap vary with the number of copper-oxygen layers. From these calculations, we observe that the strength of superexchange and the covalency at optimal doping are the best descriptors for these trends. Our microscopic analysis further identifies that strong short-range spin fluctuations and multi-orbital charge fluctuations drive the development of the pairing order. Our work illustrates the possibility of a material-specific ab initio understanding of unconventional high-temperature superconducting materials.

cond-mat.supr-con

Benchmarking the Exponential Ansatz for the Holstein model

Polarons are quasiparticles formed as a result of lattice distortions induced by charge carriers. The single-electron Holstein model captures the fundamentals of single polaron physics. We examine the power of the exponential ansatz for the polaron ground-state wavefunction in its coupled cluster, canonical transformation, and (canonically transformed) perturbative variants across the parameter space of the Holstein model. Our benchmark serves to guide future developments of polaron wavefunctions beyond the single-electron Holstein model.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci

Fast emulation of fermionic circuits with matrix product states

We describe a matrix product state (MPS) extension for the Fermionic Quantum Emulator (FQE) software library. We discuss the theory behind symmetry adapted matrix product states for approximating many-body wavefunctions of spin-1/2 fermions, and we present an open-source, MPS-enabled implementation of the FQE interface (MPS-FQE). The software uses the open-source pyblock3 and block2 libraries for most elementary tensor operations, and it can largely be used as a drop-in replacement for FQE that allows for more efficient, but approximate, emulation of larger fermionic circuits. Finally, we show several applications relevant to both near-term and fault-tolerant quantum algorithms where approximate emulation of larger systems is expected to be useful: characterization of state preparation strategies for quantum phase estimation, the testing of different variational quantum eigensolver Ansätze, the numerical evaluation of Trotter errors, and the simulation of general quantum dynamics problems. In all these examples, approximate emulation with MPS-FQE allows us to treat systems that are significantly larger than those accessible with a full statevector emulator.

quant-ph

Multireference protonation energetics of a dimeric model of nitrogenase iron-sulfur clusters

Characterizing the electronic structure of the iron--sulfur clusters in nitrogenase is necessary to understand their role in the nitrogen fixation process. One challenging task is to determine the protonation state of the intermediates in the nitrogen fixing cycle. Here, we use a dimeric iron--sulfur model to study relative energies of protonation at C, S or Fe. Using a composite method based on coupled cluster and density matrix renormalization group energetics, we converge the relative energies of four protonated configurations with respect to basis set and correlation level. We find that accurate relative energies require large basis sets, as well as a proper treatment of multireference and relativistic effects. We have also tested ten density functional approximations for these systems. Most of them give large errors in the relative energies. The best performing functional in this system is B3LYP, which gives mean absolute and maximum errors of only 10 and 13 kJ/mol with respect to our correlated wavefunction estimates, respectively. Our work provides benchmark results for the calibration of new approximate electronic structure methods and density functionals for these problems.

physics.chem-ph

Block2: a comprehensive open source framework to develop and apply state-of-the-art DMRG algorithms in electronic structure and beyond

Block2 is an open source framework to implement and perform density matrix renormalization group and matrix product state algorithms. Out-of-the-box it supports the eigenstate, time-dependent, response, and finite-temperature algorithms. In addition, it carries special optimizations for ab initio electronic structure Hamiltonians and implements many quantum chemistry extensions to the density matrix renormalization group, such as dynamical correlation theories. The code is designed with an emphasis on flexibility, extensibility, and efficiency, and to support integration with external numerical packages. Here we explain the design principles and currently supported features and present numerical examples in a range of applications.

physics.chem-ph

An ab initio correction vector restricted active space approach to the L-edge XAS and 2p3d RIXS spectra of transition metal clusters

We describe an ab initio approach to simulate L-edge X-ray absorption (XAS) and 2p3d resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) spectroscopies. We model the strongly correlated electronic structure within a restricted active space and employ a correction vector formulation instead of sum-over-states expressions for the spectra, thus eliminating the need to calculate a large number of intermediate and final electronic states. We present benchmark simulations of the XAS and RIXS spectra of the iron complexes [FeCl4]^{-1/-2} and [Fe(SCH3)4]^{-1/-2} and interpret the spectra by deconvolving the correction vectors. Our approach represents a step towards simulating the X-ray spectroscopies of larger metal cluster systems that play a pivotal role in biology.

physics.chem-ph