title: Classical spin models and the quantum-stabilizer formalism.
abstract: We relate a large class of classical spin models, including the inhomogeneous Ising, Potts, and clock models of q-state spins on arbitrary graphs, to problems in quantum physics. More precisely, we show how to express partition functions as inner products between certain quantum-stabilizer states and product states. This connection allows us to use powerful techniques developed in quantum-information theory, such as the stabilizer formalism and classical simulation techniques, to gain general insights into these models in a unified way. We recover and generalize several symmetries and high-low temperature dualities, and we provide an efficient classical evaluation of partition functions for all interaction graphs with a bounded tree-width.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Quantenoptik und Quanteninformation der Osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Van den Nest
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Dür
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Briegel