Fourier path integral Monte Carlo method

IV. Fourier Path Integral Monte Carlo Methods... 

IV. FOURIER PATH INTEGRAL MONTE CARLO METHODS... 

In the Fourier method each path contributing to Eq. (4.13) is expanded in a Fourier series and the sum over all contributing paths is replaced by an equivalent Riemann integration over all Fourier coefficients. This method was first introduced by Feynman and Hibbs to determine analytic expressions for the harmonic oscillator propagator and has been used by Miller in the context of chemical reaction dynamics. We have further developed the approach for use in finite-temjjerature Monte Carlo studies of quantum sys-tems, and we have found the method to be very useful in the cluster studies discussed in this chapter. 

There have been two principal methods developed to evaluate the kinetic energy using path integral methods. One method, based on Eq. (3.5), has been termed the T-method and the other, based on Eq. (4.1), has bwn termed the //-method. In discretized path integral calculations the T-method and the //-method have similar properties, but in the Fourier method the expressions and the behavior of the kinetic energy evaluated by Monte Carlo techniques are different. 

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