How much faster is Wolff than Metropolis at the critical point?

I simulated the two-dimensional Ising model at its exact critical temperature with two Markov chain Monte Carlo methods, the single-spin Metropolis algorithm and the Wolff cluster algorithm, on periodic L×L lattices from L = 8 to L = 64. For each method I measured the integrated autocorrelation time of the energy and of the absolute magnetization, using four independent runs per lattice size. Both methods reproduce the exact finite-lattice energy within statistical error. For Metropolis, the autocorrelation time of |M| grows as L^z with z = 2.11(3) for L ≥ 16 and 2.16(5) for L ≥ 24, in line with the accepted value z ≈ 2.17 for local dynamics. For Wolff, measured in sweep-equivalent units, I get z = 0.29(1) from the energy and 0.15(1) from |M| for L ≥ 24, within the range of published values. In CPU time per statistically independent sample of |M|, Wolff was 5 times faster at L = 8 and 275 times faster at L = 64, and the gap grows roughly as L^2. All code and raw results are available, and the full study runs in under an hour on two CPU cores.

Authors

Publication Details

Journal
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Published
2026-10-30
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23817339
Primary Topic
Theoretical and Computational Physics
Type
preprint
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preprint

How much faster is Wolff than Metropolis at the critical point?

Musa Ahmad
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Theoretical and Computational Physics
preprint

How much faster is Wolff than Metropolis at the critical point?

Musa Ahmad
preprint en

Abstract

I simulated the two-dimensional Ising model at its exact critical temperature with two Markov chain Monte Carlo methods, the single-spin Metropolis algorithm and the Wolff cluster algorithm, on periodic L×L lattices from L = 8 to L = 64. For each method I measured the integrated autocorrelation time of the energy and of the absolute magnetization, using four independent runs per lattice size. Both methods reproduce the exact finite-lattice energy within statistical error. For Metropolis, the autocorrelation time of |M| grows as L^z with z = 2.11(3) for L ≥ 16 and 2.16(5) for L ≥ 24, in line with the accepted value z ≈ 2.17 for local dynamics. For Wolff, measured in sweep-equivalent units, I get z = 0.29(1) from the energy and 0.15(1) from |M| for L ≥ 24, within the range of published values. In CPU time per statistically independent sample of |M|, Wolff was 5 times faster at L = 8 and 275 times faster at L = 64, and the gap grows roughly as L^2. All code and raw results are available, and the full study runs in under an hour on two CPU cores.

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Theoretical and Computational Physics
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