Selecting Initial States from Genetic Tempering for Efficient Monte Carlo Sampling

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.