Uhlmann fidelities from tensor networks

Abstract: Given two states $|\psi\rangle$ and $|\phi\rangle$ of a quantum many-body system, one may use the overlap or fidelity $|\langle\psi|\phi\rangle|$ to quantify how similar they are. To further resolve the similarity of $|\psi\rangle$ and $|\phi\rangle$ in space, one can consider their reduced density matrices $\rho$ and $\sigma$ on various regions of the system, and compute the Uhlmann fidelity $F(\rho, \sigma) = \operatorname{Tr} \sqrt{\sqrt{\rho} \sigma \sqrt{\rho}}$. In this paper, we show how computing such subsystem fidelities can be done efficiently in many cases when the two states are represented as tensor networks. Formulated using Uhlmann's theorem, such subsystem fidelities appear as natural quantities to extract for certain subsystems for Matrix Product States and Tree Tensor Networks, and evaluating them is algorithmically simple and computationally affordable. We demonstrate the usefulness of evaluating subsystem fidelities with three example applications: studying local quenches, comparing critical and non-critical states, and quantifying convergence in tensor network simulations.