Variational approximations for stationary states of Ising-like models

TL;DR

This paper presents a new variational method, called diamond approximation, for estimating stationary states in kinetic Ising-like models, improving accuracy and computational speed over existing methods.

Contribution

The paper introduces the diamond approximation, a novel variational approach that enhances accuracy and efficiency in analyzing stationary states of Ising-like models.

Findings

Diamond approximation outperforms existing methods in accuracy.

The approach is computationally faster.

Reproduces known mean-field results.

Abstract

We introduce a new variational approach to the stationary state of kinetic Ising-like models. The approach is based on the cluster expansion of the entropy term appearing in a functional which is minimized by the system history. We rederive a known mean-field theory and propose a new method, here called diamond approximation, which turns out to be more accurate and faster than other methods of comparable computational complexity.