Efficiency of the Wang–Landau Algorithm: A Simple Test Case

Abstract

We analyze the convergence properties of the Wang-Landau algorithm. This sampling method belongs to the general class of adaptive importance sampling strategies which use the free energy along a chosen reaction coordinate as a bias. Such algorithms are very helpful to enhance the sampling properties of Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithms, when the dynamics is metastable. We prove the convergence of the Wang-Landau algorithm and an associated central limit theorem.