Optimisation of Monte-Carlo calculations of the effective potential

A. Ardekani and A.G. Williams

Adelaide preprint number: ADP-97-13/T250

Abstract

We study Monte Carlo calculations of the effective potential for a scalar field using three known techniques and one of these is a new method proposed and tested for the first time. In ea ch case we extract the renormalised quantities of the theory. The system studied in our calculations is a one component $\phi^4$ model in two dimensions. We apply the se methods to both the weak and strong coupling regime. In the weak coupling regime we compare our results for the renormalised quantities with those obtained from two-loop lattice perturbation theory. Our results are verified in the st rong coupling regime through comparison with the strong coupling expansion. We conclude that effective potential methods, when suitably chosen, can be accurate tools in calculations of the renormalise d parameters of scalar field theories.


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