Path integral Monte Carlo simulation of charged particles in traps

TL;DR

This paper discusses the application of path integral Monte Carlo methods to compute equilibrium properties of strongly interacting quantum particles in traps, addressing challenges where perturbation techniques are ineffective.

Contribution

It introduces a Monte Carlo simulation approach specifically tailored for strongly correlated quantum systems in trapping potentials.

Findings

Effective computation of thermodynamic properties for strongly interacting particles

Demonstration of Monte Carlo method's applicability in non-perturbative regimes

Insights into quantum systems with strong correlations

Abstract

This chapter is devoted to the computation of equilibrium (thermodynamic) properties of quantum systems. In particular, we will be interested in the situation where the interaction between particles is so strong that it cannot be treated as a small perturbation. For weakly coupled systems many efficient theoretical and computational techniques do exist. However, for strongly interacting systems such as nonideal gases or plasmas, strongly correlated electrons and so on, perturbation methods fail and alternative approaches are needed. Among them, an extremely successful one is the Monte Carlo (MC) method which we are going to consider in this chapter.