Buffon's Brownian needles: harnessing thermal motion for stochastic sampling

We demonstrate a physical implementation of Monte Carlo sampling using the Brownian motion of microscopic rods, applied to the classical Buffon's needle experiment. In this way, a problem in geometric probability is mapped onto a Monte Carlo method, with a physical system performing key aspects of the computation. The experiment's parameters are embedded directly: the rods length encodes the probability integral, while their thermal motion supplies the sampling. Although only a toy-model system, this approach illustrates how embedding probabilistic structure into soft matter can provide a low-energy pathway for stochastic computation that exploits freely available thermal noise.

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Publication Details

Journal
Soft Matter
Published
2025-01-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/d5sm00844a
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
1.32
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article

Buffon's Brownian needles: harnessing thermal motion for stochastic sampling

Lindsey Nicholson, Charlie Maslen, Juliane Simmchen
1 citations
Soft Matter
Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics
1.32
article

Buffon's Brownian needles: harnessing thermal motion for stochastic sampling

Lindsey Nicholson, Charlie Maslen, Juliane Simmchen
article en
1 citations

Abstract

We demonstrate a physical implementation of Monte Carlo sampling using the Brownian motion of microscopic rods, applied to the classical Buffon's needle experiment. In this way, a problem in geometric probability is mapped onto a Monte Carlo method, with a physical system performing key aspects of the computation. The experiment's parameters are embedded directly: the rods length encodes the probability integral, while their thermal motion supplies the sampling. Although only a toy-model system, this approach illustrates how embedding probabilistic structure into soft matter can provide a low-energy pathway for stochastic computation that exploits freely available thermal noise.

Soft MatterVol. 21(46)
University of Strathclyde (GB), Technische Universität Dresden (DE)
Openalex Percentile: Top 15%
Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics
1.32
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Buffon's Brownian needles: harnessing thermal motion for stochastic sampling — Lindsey Nicholson, Charlie Maslen, et al. · Soft Matter (2025) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS