We present a compendium of numerical simulation techniques, based on tensor network methods, aiming to address problems of many-body quantum mechanics on a classical computer. The core setting of this anthology are lattice problems in low spatial dimension at finite size, a physical scenario where tensor network methods, both Density Matrix Renormalization Group and beyond, have long proven to be winning strategies. Here we explore in detail the numerical frameworks and methods employed to deal with low-dimension physical setups, from a computational physics perspective. We focus on symmetries and closed-system simulations in arbitrary boundary conditions, while discussing the numerical data structures and linear algebra manipulation routines involved, which form the core libraries of any tensor network code. At a higher level, we put the spotlight on loop-free network geometries, discussing their advantages, and presenting in detail algorithms to simulate low-energy equilibrium states. Accompanied by discussions of data structures, numerical techniques and performance, this anthology serves as a programmer's companion, as well as a self-contained introduction and review of the basic and selected advanced concepts in tensor networks, including examples of their applications.

We introduce a variational algorithm to simulate quantum many-body states based on a tree tensor network ansatz which releases the isometry constraint usually imposed by the real-space renormalization coarse-graining: This additional numerical freedom, combined with the loop-free topology of the tree network, allows one to maximally exploit the internal gauge invariance of tensor networks, ultimately leading to a computationally flexible and efficient algorithm able to treat open and periodic boundary conditions on the same footing. We benchmark the novel approach against the 1D Ising model in transverse field with periodic boundary conditions and discuss the strategy to cope with the broken translational invariance generated by the network structure. We then perform investigations on a state-of-the-art problem, namely the bilinear-biquadratic model in the transition between dimer and ferromagnetic phases. Our results clearly display an exponentially diverging correlation length and thus support the most recent guesses on the peculiarity of the transition.

We show via tensor network methods that the Harper-Hofstadter Hamiltonian for hard-core bosons on a square geometry supports a topological phase realizing the ν = 1/2 fractional quantum Hall effect on the lattice. We address the robustness of the ground state degeneracy and of the energy gap, measure the many-body Chern number, and characterize the system using Green functions, showing that they decay algebraically at the edges of open geometries, indicating the presence of gapless edge modes. Moreover, we estimate the topological entanglement entropy by taking a combination of lattice bipartitions that reproduces the topological structure of the original proposals by Kitaev and Preskill, and Levin and Wen. The numerical results show that the topological contribution is compatible with the expected value γ = 1/2. Our results provide extensive evidence that FQH states are within reach of state-of-the-art cold atom experiments.

We study the equilibrium properties of the one-dimensional disordered Bose-Hubbard model by means of a gauge-adaptive tree tensor network variational method suitable for systems with periodic boundary conditions. We compute the superfluid stiffness and superfluid correlations close to the superfluid to glass transition line, obtaining accurate locations of the critical points. By studying the statistics of the exponent of the power-law decay of the correlation, we determine the boundary between the superfluid region and the Bose glass phase in the regime of strong disorder and in the weakly interacting region, not explored numerically before. In the former case our simulations are in agreement with previous Monte Carlo calculations.

We numerically investigate the properties of the quasihole excitations above the bosonic fractional Chern insulator state at filling ν = 1/2, in the specific case of the Harper-Hofstadter Hamiltonian with hard-core interactions. For this purpose we employ a Tree Tensor Network technique, which allows us to study systems with up to N = 18 particles on a 16 × 16 lattice and experiencing an additional harmonic confinement. First, we observe the quantization of the quasihole charge at fractional values and its robustness against the shape and strength of the impurity potentials used to create and localize such excitations. Then, we numerically characterize quasihole anyonic statistics by applying a discretized version of the relation connecting the statistics of quasiholes in the lowest Landau level to the depletions they create in the density profile [E. Macaluso et al., arxiv:1903.03011]. Our results give a direct proof of the anyonic statistics for quasiholes of fractional Chern insulators, starting from a realistic Hamiltonian. Moreover, they provide strong indications that this property can be experimentally probed through local density measurements, making our scheme readily applicable in state-of-the-art experiments with ultracold atoms and superconducting qubits.arXiv:1910.05222v1 [cond-mat.quant-gas]