Wang-Landau estimation of magnetic properties for the Heisenberg model

The Wang-Landau method is a Monte Carlo procedure for estimating the equilibrium density of states g(E) of spin models, which can then be used to rapidly calculate properties such as the free energy and specific heat as functions of temperature. Here, the Wang-Landau method is validated for the Heisenberg model by comparison with the traditional Monte Carlo estimates, and a procedure for estimating the minimum temperature for valid results is presented. In addition, we show that the Wang-Landau method can be extended to calculate zero-field magnetic properties such as the zero-field susceptibility. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.