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The ALF (Algorithms for Lattice Fermions) project release 2.4. Documentation for the auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo code
by ALF Collaboration: Fakher Fakhry Assaad, Martin Bercx, Florian Goth, Anika Götz, Johannes Stephan Hofmann, Emilie Huffman, Zihong Liu, Francesco Parisen Toldin, Jefferson Stafusa E. Portela, Jonas Schwab
Submission summary
| Authors (as registered SciPost users): | Fakher Assaad · Johannes Stephan Hofmann · Jefferson Portela |
| Submission information | |
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| Preprint Link: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2012.11914v7 (pdf) |
| Code repository: | https://git.physik.uni-wuerzburg.de/ALF/ALF/-/tree/ALF-2.4 |
| Date submitted: | 2023-04-16 09:56 |
| Submitted by: | Portela, Jefferson |
| Submitted to: | SciPost Physics Codebases |
| Ontological classification | |
|---|---|
| Academic field: | Physics |
| Specialties: |
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| Approach: | Computational |
Abstract
The Algorithms for Lattice Fermions package provides a general code for the finite-temperature and projective auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo algorithm. The code is engineered to be able to simulate any model that can be written in terms of sums of single-body operators, of squares of single-body operators and single-body operators coupled to a bosonic field with given dynamics. The package includes five pre-defined model classes: SU(N) Kondo, SU(N) Hubbard, SU(N) t-V and SU(N) models with long range Coulomb repulsion on honeycomb, square and N-leg lattices, as well as $Z_2$ unconstrained lattice gauge theories coupled to fermionic and $Z_2$ matter. An implementation of the stochastic Maximum Entropy method is also provided. One can download the code from our Git instance at https://git.physik.uni-wuerzburg.de/ALF/ALF/-/tree/ALF-2.4 and sign in to file issues.
Current status:
Reports on this Submission
Strengths
See report
Weaknesses
See report
Report
The ALF library provides very welcome state-of-the-art code of great value for the community, with many successful usecases already documented from the previous release. The authors now provide a substantially updated code, along with an extended documentation that continues to give a well-balanced description of both code features and corresponding descriptions of the relevant algorithms, including also the relevant original literature.
The only major point I noticed is that it was pointed out recently (in arXiv:2303.14326) that previous implementations of the Grover-based algorithm for the calculations of entanglement entropies apparently did not use the full weight for the important sampling, leading to systematic deviations. In case the ALF code is based on the incomplete weight, the authors should consider to modify the code. If instead the ALF code is indeed using the full weight, this fact should be stressed in the documentation. In either case, it would be appropriate to cite the above reference.
A few minor points:
-there are a few minor typos (e.g., „bellow“ on page 21), which point towards a further spellcheck.
-the figure placements could be reconsidered, e.g., Fig. 2 comes a bit late, being cited already on page 23 for the first time.
Requested changes
See report
Strengths
1- Very thorough manuscript
2-Highly impactful project
Weaknesses
None found by reviewer
Report
This manuscripts presents the documentation for the ALF (Algorithms for Lattice Fermions) project, release 2.4. The work presented here is comprehensive and leading edge in the field.
A previous version 2.0 has already been published through SciPost in August 2022. The reviewer is not aware of SciPost policy on different release on the same project, however significant progress seem has been made through the releases as reflected in the manuscript as well as the changelog (https://git.physik.uni-wuerzburg.de/ALF/ALF/-/blob/ALF-2.4/CHANGELOG.md).
If the journal policy permits, the most updated documentation is worth publishing, especially for such a quickly-developing field.