Universality and Critical Exponents of the Fermion Sign Problem

Abstract: Initial characterizations of the fermion sign problem focused on its evolution with spatial lattice size $L$ and inverse temperature $\beta$, emphasizing the implications of the exponential nature of the decay of the average sign $\langle {\cal S} \rangle$ for the complexity of its solution and associated limitations of quantum Monte Carlo studies of strongly correlated materials. Early interest was also on the evolution of $\langle {\cal S} \rangle$ with density $\rho$, either because commensurate filling is often associated with special symmetries for which the sign problem is absent or because particular fillings are often primary targets, e.g.~those densities which maximize superconducting transition temperature (the top of the `dome' of cuprate systems). Here we describe a new analysis of the sign problem, which demonstrates that the {\it spin-resolved} sign $\langle {\cal S}\sigma\rangle$ already possesses signatures of universal behavior traditionally associated with order parameters, even in the absence of symmetry protection that makes $\langle {\cal S} \rangle = 1$. When appropriately scaled, $\langle {\cal S}\sigma \rangle$ exhibits universal crossings and data collapse. Moreover, we show these behaviors occur in the vicinity of quantum critical points of three well-understood models, exhibiting either second-order or Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transitions. Our results pave the way for using the average sign as a minimal correlator that can potentially describe quantum criticality in a variety of fermionic many-body problems.