Simulation of two-dimensional quantum systems on an infinite lattice revisited: Corner transfer matrix for tensor contraction

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.