Multilevel blocking Monte Carlo simulations for quantum dots

This article provides an introduction to the ideas behind the multilevel blocking (MLB) approach to the fermion sign problem in path-integral Monte Carlo simulations, and also gives a detailed discussion of MLB results for quantum dots. MLB can turn the exponential severity of the sign problem into an algebraic one, thereby enabling numerically exact studies of otherwise inaccessible systems. Low-temperature simulation results for up to eight strongly correlated electrons in a parabolic 2D quantum dot are presented.