Monte Carlo simulations of one-dimensional fermion systems

We discuss a new method to perform numerical simulations of one-dimensional systems with fermion and boson degrees of freedom. The method is based on a direct-space, imaginary-time representation of the fermion field. It is fast so that systems having up to 100 sites can easily be simulated. In addition, the method provides an intuitive physical "picture" of the ground state of a one-dimensional many-body system. We discuss in detail how to implement the method and how to compute various physical quantities. In particular, we show how to extend the method to study averages of off-diagonal quantities in an occupation-number representation. To assess the accuracy of our procedure, we apply it to free fermions in one dimension and compare with exact results. We then study a model of spinless interacting fermions and obtain the expected phase structure and behavior of correlation functions. We also consider the extended Hubbard model at various points in its phase diagram and study the behavior of spin-density, charge-density, and pairing correlation functions. We then study the Gross-Neveu model and show how the behavior depends on the number of fermion flavors. Finally, we consider an electron-phonon model and study its behavior both in the one-particle polaron sector and in the half-filled-band case. Along the way we show pictures of the ground-state configurations that give physical insight into the properties of the systems, like charge-density-wave, spin-density-wave, and superconducting states, "fractional charges," and solitons. We conclude by comparing our method with other methods and discuss the possibility of extending it to higher dimensions.