LATTICE SPIN MODELS AND NEW ALGORITHMS — A REVIEW OF MONTE CARLO COMPUTER SIMULATIONS

We review Monte Carlo computer simulations of spin models — both discrete and continuous. We explain the phenomenon of critical slowing which seriously degrades the efficiency of standard local Monte Carlo algorithms such as the Metropolis algorithm near phase transitions. We then go onto describe in detail the new algorithms which ameliorate the problem of critical slowing down, and give their dynamical critical exponent values.