We present an algorithm to simulate two-dimensional quantum lattice systems in the thermodynamic limit. Our approach builds on the projected entangled-pair state algorithm for finite lattice systems [F. Verstraete and J. I. Cirac, arxiv:cond-mat/0407066] and the infinite time-evolving block decimation algorithm for infinite one-dimensional lattice systems [G. Vidal, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 070201 (2007)]. The present algorithm allows for the computation of the ground state and the simulation of time evolution in infinite two-dimensional systems that are invariant under translations. We demonstrate its performance by obtaining the ground state of the quantum Ising model and analyzing its second order quantum phase transition.

The infinite time-evolving block decimation algorithm [G. Vidal, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 070201 (2007)] allows to simulate unitary evolution and to compute the ground state of one-dimensional (1D) quantum lattice systems in the thermodynamic limit. Here we extend the algorithm to tackle a much broader class of problems, namely, the simulation of arbitrary one-dimensional evolution operators that can be expressed as a (translationally invariant) tensor network. Relatedly, we also address the problem of finding the dominant eigenvalue and eigenvector of a one-dimensional transfer matrix that can be expressed in the same way. New applications include the simulation, in the thermodynamic limit, of open (i.e., master equation) dynamics and thermal states in 1D quantum systems, as well as calculations with partition functions in two-dimensional (2D) classical systems, on which we elaborate. The present extension of the algorithm also plays a prominent role in the infinite projected entangled-pair states approach to infinite 2D quantum lattice systems.

An extension of the projected entangled-pair states (PEPS) algorithm to infinite systems, known as the iPEPS algorithm, was recently proposed to compute the ground state of quantum systems on an infinite two dimensional lattice. Here we investigate a modification of the iPEPS algorithm, where the environment is computed using the corner transfer matrix renormalization group (CTMRG) method, instead of using one-dimensional transfer matrix methods as in the original proposal. We describe a variant of the CTMRG that addresses different directions of the lattice independently, and use it combined with imaginary time evolution to compute the ground state of the two dimensional quantum Ising model. Near criticality, the modified iPEPS algorithm is seen to provide a better estimation of the order parameter and correlators.

We explain how to implement, in the context of projected entangled-pair states (PEPSs), the general procedure of fermionization of a tensor network introduced in P. Corboz and G. Vidal, Phys. Rev. B 80, 165129 (2009). The resulting fermionic PEPS, similar to previous proposals, can be used to study the ground state of interacting fermions on a two-dimensional lattice. As in the bosonic case, the cost of simulations depends on the amount of entanglement in the ground state and not directly on the strength of interactions. The present formulation of fermionic PEPS leads to a straightforward numerical implementation that allowed us to recycle much of the code for bosonic PEPS. We demonstrate that fermionic PEPS are a useful variational ansatz for interacting fermion systems by computing approximations to the ground state of several models on an infinite lattice. For a model of interacting spinless fermions, ground state energies lower than Hartree-Fock results are obtained, shifting the boundary between the metal and charge-density wave phases. For the t-J model, energies comparable with those of a specialized Gutzwiller-projected ansatz are also obtained.