We prove that there exists a gain function (η(t),β(t))t⩾0 such that the solution of the SDE dxt=η(t)(−gradU(xt)dt+β(t)dBt) ‘settles’ down on the set of global minima of U. In particular, the existence of a gain function (η(t))t⩾0 so that yt satisfying dyt=η(t)(−gradU(yt)dt+dBt)...

We use Monte Carlo simulations to analyze the behavior of a family of previously reported, statistically derived, mean field potentials for protein folding (the DFIRE potentials from the Zhou laboratory). The potentials may consider different interaction centers (alpha carbons, beta carbons, or...

The partitioning of random graphs is investigated numerically using “simulated annealing” and “extremal optimization”. While generally in an NP-hard problem, it is shown that the optimization of the graph partitions is particularly difficult for sparse graphs with average connectivities...

We discuss the use of Tsallis generalized mechanics in simulated annealing algorithms. For a small peptide, it is shown that older implementations are not more effective than regular simulated annealing in finding ground-state configurations. We propose a new implementation which leads to an...

The aim of this paper is to explain why Statistical Physics can help understanding two related linguistic questions. The first question is how to model first language acquisition by a child. The second question is how language change proceeds in time.

Simulated Annealing has become a standard optimization technique for a wide variety of problems: starting at a random configuration and performing a sequence of moves, the system is optimized using a control parameter which partially allows for accepting a deterioration and therefore for...

For many years, the problem of how to distribute students to the various universities in Germany according to the preferences of the students has remained unsolved. Various approaches, like the centralized method to let a central agency organize the distribution to the various universities or...

Search space smoothing and related heuristic optimization algorithms provide an alternative approach to simulated annealing and its variants: while simulated annealing traverses barriers in the energy landscape at finite temperatures, search space smoothing intends to remove these barriers, so...

The microscopic structural features of porous media directly affect their macroscopic properties (e.g., mechanical, electromagnetic, capillary, and transport properties). As for sandstone, the distributions of the clay and the pore in three-dimensional (3D) space have important effects on its...

This paper is an attempt to assess more precisely the scope of the multifractal approach for textural characterization. We perform a series of numerical experiments to reconstruct black and white images from the multiscale moments of a measure defined by a reference image. The reconstructed...