Sign problem? No problem -- a conjecture

@article{citeulike:3170699, abstract = {We investigate the Euclidean path integral formulation of QCD at finite baryon density. We show that the partition function Z can be written as the difference between two sums, each of which defines a partition function with positive weights. We argue that at most points on the phase diagram one will give an exponentially larger contribution than the other. At such points Z can be replaced by a more tractable path integral with positive definite measure, allowing for lattice simulation as well as the application of QCD inequalities. We also propose a test to control the accuracy of approximation in actual Monte Carlo simulations. Our analysis may be applicable to other systems with a sign problem, such as chiral gauge theory.}, archivePrefix = {arXiv}, author = {Hsu, Stephen D. H. and Reeb, David}, citeulike-article-id = {3170699}, eprint = {0808.2987}, keywords = {lattice, sign-problem, theory}, month = {Aug}, posted-at = {2008-08-28 21:40:53}, priority = {2}, title = {Sign problem? No problem \&\#45;\&\#45; a conjecture}, url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/0808.2987}, year = {2008} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:3170699 L3 - citeulike-article-id:3170699 N2 - We investigate the Euclidean path integral formulation of QCD at finite baryon density. We show that the partition function Z can be written as the difference between two sums, each of which defines a partition function with positive weights. We argue that at most points on the phase diagram one will give an exponentially larger contribution than the other. At such points Z can be replaced by a more tractable path integral with positive definite measure, allowing for lattice simulation as well as the application of QCD inequalities. We also propose a test to control the accuracy of approximation in actual Monte Carlo simulations. Our analysis may be applicable to other systems with a sign problem, such as chiral gauge theory. TI - Sign problem? No problem -- a conjecture KW - lattice KW - sign-problem KW - theory AU - Hsu, Stephen AU - Reeb, David PY - 2008/Aug/23/ UR - http://arxiv.org/abs/0808.2987 ER -