Valence-bond quantum Monte Carlo algorithms defined on trees

We present a class of algorithms for performing valence-bond quantum Monte Carlo of quantum spin models. Valence-bond quantum Monte Carlo is a projective T = 0 Monte Carlo method based on sampling of a set of operator strings that can be viewed as forming a treelike structure. The algorithms presented here utilize the notion of a worm that moves up and down this tree and changes the associated operator string. In quite general terms, we derive a set of equations whose solutions correspond to a whole class of algorithms. As specific examples of this class of algorithms, we focus on two cases. The bouncing worm algorithm, for which updates are always accepted by allowing the worm to bounce up and down the tree, and the driven worm algorithm, where a single parameter controls how far up the tree the worm reaches before turning around. The latter algorithm involves only a single bounce where the worm turns from going up the tree to going down. The presence of the control parameter necessitates the introduction of an acceptance probability for the update.