New Monte Carlo Iteration Method for Generalized Ensembles

Abstract

We present a new and general Monte Carlo iteration method for generalized ensembles. It consists of two elements: (1) a simple algorithm to distinguish between distributions arising from respectively equilibrium- and non-equilibrium processes, and (2) a selfconsistent maximum-likelyhood estimation of the unknown thermodynamic quantities, based on the information obtained at all previous iterations. We demonstrate the efficiency of the method by calculating the density of state function of a homopolymer with 16^3 monomers. This represents an improvement of at least an order of magnitude compared to previous studies.

5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letters