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Noiseless limit and improved-prior limit of the maximum entropy method and their implications for the analytic continuation problem

Thomas Chuna1,2,*, Nicholas Barnfield3, Paul Hamann2,4, Sebastian Schwalbe1,2, Michael P. Friedlander5, and Tobias Dornheim1,2

  • *Contact author: t.chuna@hzdr.de
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 033009 – Published 6 July, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/yqjh-ycbh

Abstract

Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) methods are uniquely capable of providing exact simulations of quantum many-body systems. Unfortunately, the applications of a QMC simulation are limited because extracting dynamic properties requires solving the analytic continuation problem. Across the many fields that use QMC methods, there is no universally accepted analytic continuation algorithm for extracting dynamic properties, but many publications compare to the maximum entropy method. We investigate when entropy maximization is an acceptable approach. We show that stochastic sampling algorithms reduce to entropy maximization when the Bayesian prior is near to the true solution. We investigate when is Bryan’s controversial optimization algorithm [Bryan, Eur. Biophys. J. 18, 165 (1990)] for entropy maximization (sometimes known as the maximum entropy method—MEM) appropriate to use. We show that Bryan’s algorithm is appropriate when the noise is near zero or when the Bayesian prior is near the true solution. We also investigate the mean squared error, finding a better scaling when the Bayesian prior is near the true solution than when the noise is near zero. Together, these three results indicate that enhancing the quality of the Bayesian prior enhances the validity of the MEM and has better return on investment than reducing the noise. We point to examples of improved data-driven Bayesian priors that have already leveraged this advantage. We support these results by solving the double Gaussian problem using both Bryan’s algorithm and the newly formulated dual approach to entropy maximization [Chuna et al., J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 58, 335203 (2025)].

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 033009– Published 6 July, 2026
  • Received 10 November 2025
  • Accepted 11 May 2026
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