  Instanton methods, in which imaginary-time evolution gives the tunneling
rate, have been widely used for studying quantum tunneling in various contexts.
Nevertheless, how accurate instanton methods are for the problems of
macroscopic quantum tunneling (MQT) still remains unclear because of lack of
their direct comparison with exact time evolution of the many-body Schroedinger
equation. Here, we verify instanton methods applied to coherent MQT.
Specifically applying the quasi-exact numerical method of time-evolving block
decimation to the system of bosons in a ring lattice, we directly simulate the
real-time quantum dynamics of supercurrents, where a coherent oscillation
between two macroscopically distinct current states occurs due to MQT. The
tunneling rate extracted from the coherent oscillation is compared with that
given by the instanton method. We show that the error is within 10% when the
effective Planck's constant is sufficiently small. We also discuss phase slip
dynamics associated with the coherent oscillations.
