NNQS-AFQMC: Neural network quantum states enhanced fermionic quantum Monte Carlo

Abstract: We introduce an efficient approach to implement neural network quantum states (NNQS) as trial wavefunctions in auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo (AFQMC). NNQS are a recently developed class of variational ans\"atze capable of flexibly representing many-body wavefunctions, though they often incur a high computational cost during optimization. AFQMC, on the other hand, is a powerful stochastic projector approach for ground-state calculations, but it normally requires an approximate constraint via a trial wavefunction or trial density matrix, whose quality affects the accuracy. Recent progress has shown that a broad class of highly correlated wavefunctions can be integrated into AFQMC through stochastic sampling techniques. In this work, we present a direct integration of NNQS with AFQMC, allowing NNQS to serve as high-quality trial wavefunctions for AFQMC with manageable computational cost. We test the NNQS-AFQMC method on the challenging nitrogen molecule (N$_2$) at stretched geometries. Our results demonstrate that AFQMC with an NNQS trial wavefunction can attain near-exact total energies, highlighting the potential of AFQMC with NNQS to overcome longstanding challenges in strongly correlated electronic structure calculations. We also outline future research directions for improving this promising methodology.