"Pull moves" for rectangular lattice polymer models are not fully reversible

TL;DR

This paper reveals that the commonly used 'pull moves' in lattice polymer simulations are not fully reversible as previously claimed, which can bias results, and proposes a method to ensure their reversibility.

Contribution

It identifies flaws in the proof of pull move reversibility and provides a correction to make the move set fully reversible.

Findings

Some pull moves are irreversible, leading to biased simulation results.

The paper offers a method to modify pull moves to ensure reversibility.

Reversibility correction improves the accuracy of lattice polymer simulations.

Abstract

"Pull moves" is a popular move set for lattice polymer model simulations. We show that the proof given for its reversibility earlier is flawed, and some moves are irreversible, which leads to biases in the parameters estimated from the simulations. We show how to make the move set fully reversible.