The lid method for exhaustive exploration of metastable states of complex systems

The 'lid' algorithm is designed for the exhaustive exploration of neighborhoods of local energy minima of energy landscapes. This paper describes an implementation of the algorithm, including issues of parallel performance and scalability. To illustrate the versatility of the approach and to stress the common features present in landscapes of quite different systems, we present selected results for (1) a spin glass, (2) a ferromagnet, (3) a covalent network model for glassy systems, and (4) a polymer. The exponential nature of the local density of states found in these systems and its relation to the ordering transition is briefly commented upon. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V.