Accelerated rare event sampling: Refinement and Ising model analysis

In this paper, a recently introduced accelerated sampling technique [D. Yevick, Int. J. Mod. Phys. C 27, 1650041 (2016)] for constructing transition matrices is further developed and applied to a two-dimensional [Formula: see text] Ising spin system. By permitting backward displacements up to a certain limit for each forward step while evolving the system to first higher and then lower energies within a restricted interval that is steadily displaced toward zero temperature as the computation proceeds, accuracy can be greatly enhanced. Simultaneously, the elements obtained from numerous independent calculations are collected in a single transition matrix. The relative accuracy of this novel method is established through a comparison to a transition matrix procedure based on the Metropolis algorithm in which the temperature is appropriately varied during the calculation and the results interpreted in terms of the distribution of realizations over both energy and magnetization.