Complex path simulations of geometrically frustrated ladders

Abstract

Quantum systems with geometrical frustration remain an outstanding challenge for numerical simulations due to the infamous numerical sign problem. Here, we overcome this obstruction via complex path integration in a geometrically frustrated ladder of interacting bosons at finite density. This enables studies of the many-body ground state properties, otherwise inaccessible with standard quantum Monte Carlo methods. Specifically, we study a chemical potential tuned quantum phase transition, along which we track the emergence of quasi-long-range order and critical softening of the single particle gap. We chart future methodological improvements and applications in generalized geometrically frustrated lattice models.