1:30 pm MCP 201
Reduced Density Matrix Theory: From Quantum Many-Body Physics to Chemistry and Beyond.
Reduced density matrix (RDM) theory provides a powerful framework for describing quantum many-body systems in terms of their essential correlations without reference to the full many-electron wave function. Building on the pioneering work of Löwdin and Coleman, my group and I have advanced the understanding of N-representability conditions and developed large-scale semi definite programming techniques that make RDM methods practical and predictive for molecules and quantum materials. In this talk, I will discuss the variational two-electron RDM (V2RDM) theory, which employs semi definite constraints to enforce N-representability for accurate,polynomial-scaling treatments of strongly correlated systems. V2RDM not only yields accurate energies and properties for strongly correlated systems but also reveals new insights into quantum entanglement, complexity, and off-diagonallong-range order. I will highlight applications ranging from bond breaking and transition-metal chemistry to exciton condensation and quantum coherence in biological light harvesting. Along the way, I will show how RDM methods provide a unifying language across quantum chemistry, condensed matter physics, and quantum information science.