We present a novel approach that allows to calculate the dielectric response
of periodic systems in the quantum Monte Carlo formalism. We employ a many-body
generalization for the electric enthalpy functional, where the coupling with
the field is expressed via the Berry-phase formulation for the macroscopic
polarization. A self-consistent local Hamiltonian then determines the
ground-state wavefunction, allowing for accurate diffusion quantum Monte Carlo
calculations where the polarization's fixed point is estimated from the average
on an iterative sequence, sampled via forward-walking. This approach has been
validated for the case of an isolated hydrogen atom, and then applied to a
periodic system, to calculate the dielectric susceptibility of
molecular-hydrogen chains. The results found are in excellent agreement with
the best estimates obtained from the extrapolation of quantum-chemistry
calculations.Comment: 5 page 2figure
