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Welcome to the Chan Research Group!

We are a group of theoreticians interested broadly in the simulation of chemical and physical systems at the level of many-particle quantum mechanics.

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News & Updates

Congratulations to Phillip Helms!

December 31, 2021

The Chan Group welcomes new Postdocs!

October 11, 2021

The MolSSI Workshop for Quantum Chemistry and Materials Simulation is held at Caltech!

June 29, 2018

Josh's latest work on investigating atomic spin is published in JPCL!

May 30, 2018

The Chan Group Organizes a Periodic Methods Hack-a-thon!

May 25, 2018

Latest Publications

Using Hyperoptimized Tensor Networks and First-Principles Electronic Structure to Simulate the Experimental Properties of the Giant {Mn84} Torus

The single-molecule magnet {Mn84} is a challenge to theory because of its high nuclearity. We directly compute two experimentally accessible observables, the field-dependent magnetization up to 75 T and the temperature-dependent heat capacity, using parameter-free theory. In particular, we use first-principles calculations to derive short- and long-range exchange interactions and compute the exact partition function of the resulting classical Potts and Ising spin models for all 84 Mn S = 2 spins to obtain observables. The latter computation is made possible by using hyperoptimized tensor network contractions, a technique developed to simulate quantum supremacy circuits. We also synthesize the magnet and measure its heat capacity and magnetization, observing qualitative agreement between theory and experiment and identifying an unusual bump in the heat capacity and a plateau in the magnetization. Our work also identifies some limitations of current theoretical modeling in large magnets, such as sensitivity to small, long-range exchange couplings.

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