Correlated sampling in quantum Monte Carlo: A route to forces

In order to find the equilibrium geometries of molecules and solids and to perform ab initio molecular dynamics, it is necessary to calculate the forces on the nuclei. We present a correlated sampling method to efficiently calculate numerical forces and potential energy surfaces in diffusion Monte Carlo. This method employs a coordinate transformation, earlier used in variational Monte Carlo, to greatly reduce the statistical error. Results are presented for first-row diatomic molecules.