Bold diagrammatic Monte Carlo technique: when the sign problem is welcome

Phys Rev Lett. 2007 Dec 21;99(25):250201. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.250201. Epub 2007 Dec 18.

Abstract

We introduce a Monte Carlo scheme for sampling a bold-line diagrammatic series specifying an unknown function in terms of itself. The range of convergence of this bold(-line) diagrammatic Monte Carlo (BMC) technique is significantly broader than that of a simple iterative scheme for solving integral equations. With the BMC technique, a moderate "sign problem" turns out to be an advantage in terms of the convergence of the process. For an illustrative purpose, we solve the one-particle s-scattering problem. As an important application, we obtain the T matrix for a Fermi polaron (one spin-down particle interacting with the spin-up fermionic sea).