Matrix product states represent ground states faithfully

Abstract

We quantify how well matrix product states approximate exact ground states of 1-D quantum spin systems as a function of the number of spins and the entropy of blocks of spins. We also investigate the convex set of local reduced density operators of translational invariant systems. The results give a theoretical justification for the high accuracy of renormalization group algorithms, and justifies their use even in the case of critical systems.