Symmetry conventions with spin

Concerns any physical issues arising during the setup step (-i option). This includes problems with symmetries, k/q-point sets, and so on. For technical problems (running in parallel, etc), refer to the Technical forum.

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milesj
Posts: 39
Joined: Thu Jan 26, 2023 9:27 pm

Symmetry conventions with spin

Post by milesj » Tue Dec 16, 2025 8:19 pm

Hi all,

What are the conventions for how yambo prints symmetries in section 02.02?

My material has two magnetically inequivalent atoms at (0,1/3,0) and (0,-1/3,0), specifically labeled as Ni1 and Ni2 in quantum espresso. QE finds two symmetries:

Code: Select all

      isym =  1     identity

 Time Reversal            0
 cryst.   s( 1) = (     1          0          0      )
                  (     0          1          0      )
                  (     0          0          1      )

 cart.    s( 1) = (  1.0000000  0.0000000  0.0000000 )
                  (  0.0000000  1.0000000  0.0000000 )
                  (  0.0000000  0.0000000  1.0000000 )


      isym =  2     180 deg rotation - cart. axis [0,1,0]

 Time Reversal            1
 cryst.   s( 2) = (    -1          0          0      )
                  (     0          1          0      )
                  (     0          0         -1      )

 cart.    s( 2) = ( -1.0000000  0.0000000  0.0000000 )
                  (  0.0000000  1.0000000  0.0000000 )
                  ( -0.0000000  0.0000000 -1.0000000 )

Yambo (version 5.1.0) also finds two symmetries, but it seems to flip the sign of the second one:

Code: Select all

   [S 1]:  1.000000  0.000000  0.000000  0.000000  1.000000  0.000000  0.000000  0.000000  1.000000
   [S*2]:  1.000000  0.000000  0.000000  0.000000 -1.000000  0.000000  0.000000  0.000000  1.000000
As you can see, there is an overall sign difference between the symmetry found by QE vs Yambo. Does the * in S*2 indicate that the symmetry should be multiplied by -1?

Best,
Miles
Miles Johnson
California Institute of Technology
PhD candidate in Applied Physics

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Daniele Varsano
Posts: 4299
Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2009 2:23 pm
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Re: Symmetry conventions with spin

Post by Daniele Varsano » Wed Dec 17, 2025 1:23 pm

Dear Miles,

have you checked how the lattices vector are reported in QE and Yambo? It is possible they are different and the overall picture of the symmetry is equivalent.

Best,

Daniele
Dr. Daniele Varsano
S3-CNR Institute of Nanoscience and MaX Center, Italy
MaX - Materials design at the Exascale
http://www.nano.cnr.it
http://www.max-centre.eu/

milesj
Posts: 39
Joined: Thu Jan 26, 2023 9:27 pm

Re: Symmetry conventions with spin

Post by milesj » Thu Dec 18, 2025 11:31 pm

Ah I think the difference was just due to time reversal, so yambo was displaying the symmetry operation on k-space.
Miles Johnson
California Institute of Technology
PhD candidate in Applied Physics

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Daniele Varsano
Posts: 4299
Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2009 2:23 pm
Contact:

Re: Symmetry conventions with spin

Post by Daniele Varsano » Sun Dec 21, 2025 3:06 pm

Dear Miles,

this should be reported in the report file. TR symmetry are not listed but it is stated if they are included.

Best,
Daniele
Dr. Daniele Varsano
S3-CNR Institute of Nanoscience and MaX Center, Italy
MaX - Materials design at the Exascale
http://www.nano.cnr.it
http://www.max-centre.eu/

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