Professor Simon Trebst,
Microsoft Research and University of California at Santa Barbara

Numerical simulations of slowly equilibrating systems

Competing phases or interactions in complex many-particle systems can result in free energy barriers that strongly suppress thermal equilibration. In this talk I will outline how numerical simulations can be used to study the equilibrium behavior of such systems. Special focus will be given to a recently developed adaptive Monte Carlo technique that is capable to explore and overcome the entropic barriers which cause the slow-down. I will discuss a number of examples including low-temperature states of magnetic systems with competing interactions, dense liquids, folded proteins and quantum systems close to a phase transition. Finally, I will outline how these techniques will be incorporated in an open-source project that distributes codes for the simulation of strongly correlated quantum systems.