Selecting Initial States from Genetic Tempering for Efficient Monte Carlo Sampling

Abstract: An alternative to Monte Carlo techniques requiring large sampling times is presented here. Ideas from a genetic algorithm are used to select the best initial states from many independent, parallel Metropolis-Hastings iterations that are run on a single graphics processing unit. This algorithm represents the idealized limit of the parallel tempering method and, if the threads are selected perfectly, this algorithm converges without any Monte Carlo iterations--although some are required in practice. Models tested here (Ising, anti-ferromagnetic Kagome, and random-bond Ising) are sampled on a time scale of seconds and with a small uncertainty that is free from auto-correlation.