GPU Implementation of the Feynman Path-Integral Method in Quantum Mechanics

Examensarbete för kandidatexamen

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
Download file(s):
File Description SizeFormat 
144105.pdfFulltext8.15 MBAdobe PDFView/Open
Type: Examensarbete för kandidatexamen
Bachelor Thesis
Title: GPU Implementation of the Feynman Path-Integral Method in Quantum Mechanics
Authors: Ahlén, Olof
Bohlin, Gustav
Carlsson, Kristoffer
Gren, Martin
Holmvall, Patric
Säterskog, Petter
Abstract: The Path-Integral Formulation of Quantum Mechanics is intro- duced along with a detailed mathematical description of how it is used in quantum computations. The important concept of the kernel is explained, along with the free particle and harmonic oscillator as examples. Furthermore, the method for calculating expectation values of quantum operators is explained. The expectation values are naturally calculated by importance sampled Monte Carlo integration and by use of the Metropolis al- gorithm. This is due to the discretization of the path integral results in an integral with a high number of integration variables. The math- ematical concepts of this calculation are explained. Also, a method for obtaining the probability density of the treated system is presented. The calculations are performed by a GPU, due to its high ca- pabilities for numerical operations. This requires the mathematical computations to be parallelized and is done by use of the free software PyOpenCL. A thorough introduction to these concepts are given. The resulting ground state energies and probability densities for many particle systems interacting with harmonic as well as attrac- tive and repulsive gaussian potentials are presented. The calculations worked exceedingly well for many particle systems. Source code is available at feynmangpu/files/
Keywords: Grundläggande vetenskaper;Fysik;Elementarpartikelfysik;Kärnfysik;Basic Sciences;Physical Sciences;Elementary particle physics;Nuclear physics
Issue Date: 2011
Publisher: Chalmers tekniska högskola / Institutionen för fundamental fysik
Chalmers University of Technology / Department of Fundamental Physics
Collection:Examensarbeten för kandidatexamen // Bachelor Theses
