Majorana Positivity and the Fermion sign problem of Quantum Monte Carlo Simulations

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new theoretical framework based on Majorana reflection and Kramers positivity to identify and prove the absence of the fermion sign problem in quantum Monte Carlo simulations, unifying previous results and discovering new sign-problem-free models.

Contribution

It provides a unified proof for the absence of the sign problem in certain fermion models and identifies new models that are free of the sign problem using this framework.

Findings

Proven sufficient conditions for the absence of the fermion sign problem.

Unified description of known sign-problem-free models.

Identification of new sign-problem-free fermion models.

Abstract

The sign problem is a major obstacle in quantum Monte Carlo simulations for many-body fermion systems. We examine this problem with a new perspective based on the Majorana reflection positivity and Majorana Kramers positivity. Two sufficient conditions are proven for the absence of the fermion sign problem. Our proof provides a unified description for all the interacting lattice fermion models previously known to be free of the sign problem based on the auxiliary field quantum Monte Carlo method. It also allows us to identify a number of new sign-problem-free interacting fermion models including, but not limited to, lattice fermion models with repulsive interactions but without particle-hole symmetry and interacting topological insulators with spin-flip terms.