Wang and Landau algorithm

The Wang and Landau algorithm, proposed by Fugao Wang and David P. Landau,[1] is a Monte Carlo method designed to estimate the density of states of a system. The method performs a non-Markovian random walk to build the density of states by quickly visiting all the available energy spectrum. The Wang and Landau algorithm is an important method to obtain the density of states required to perform a multicanonical simulation.

The Wang–Landau algorithm can be applied to any system which is characterized by a cost (or energy) function. For instance, it has been applied to the solution of numerical integrals[2] and the folding of proteins.[3][4] The Wang–Landau sampling is related to the metadynamics algorithm.[5]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference WangLandau was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Belardinelli_Integrals was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ojeda1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ojeda2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Christoph Junghans, Danny Perez, and Thomas Vogel. "Molecular Dynamics in the Multicanonical Ensemble: Equivalence of Wang–Landau Sampling, Statistical Temperature Molecular Dynamics, and Metadynamics." Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation 10.5 (2014): 1843-1847. doi:10.1021/ct500077d