Efficient Algorithms for Approximating Quantum Partition Functions

Abstract: We establish a polynomial-time approximation algorithm for partition functions of quantum spin models at high temperature. Our algorithm is based on the quantum cluster expansion of Neto\v{c}n\'y and Redig and the cluster expansion approach to designing algorithms due to Helmuth, Perkins, and Regts. Similar results have previously been obtained by related methods, and our main contribution is a simple and slightly sharper analysis for the case of pairwise interactions on bounded-degree graphs.