Efficient conversion from fermionic Gaussian states to matrix product states

Abstract Fermionic Gaussian states (FGSs) are eigenstates of quadratic Hamiltonians and widely used in quantum many-body problems. We propose a highly efficient algorithm that converts FGSs to matrix product states (MPSs). It can be formulated for finite-size systems without translation invariance, but becomes particularly appealing when applied to infinite systems with translation invariance. If the ground states of a topologically ordered system on infinite cylinders are expressed as MPSs, then the fixed points of the transfer matrix can be harnessed to filter out the anyon eigenbasis, also known as minimally entangled states. This allows for efficient computation of universal properties such as entanglement spectrum and modular matrices. The potential of our method is demonstrated by numerical calculations in two chiral spin liquids that have the same topological orders as the bosonic Laughlin and Moore–Read states, respectively. The anyon eigenbasis for the first one has been worked out before and serves as a useful benchmark. The anyon eigenbasis of the second one is, however, not transparent and its successful construction provides a nontrivial corroboration of our method.