Bond-updating mechanism in cluster Monte Carlo calculations

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Abstract
We study a cluster Monte Carlo method with an adjustable parameter: the number of energy levels of a demon mediating the exchange of bond energy with the heat bath. The efficiency of the algorithm in the case of the three-dimensional Ising model is studied as a function of the number of such levels. The optimum is found in the limit of an infinite number of levels, where the method reproduces the Wolff or the Swendsen-Wang algorithm. In this limit the size distribution of flipped clusters approximates a power law more closely than that for a finite number of energy levels.