# Equi-Energy sampling does not converge rapidly on the mean-field Potts model with three colors close to the critical temperature

## TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that Equi-Energy Sampling (EES) does not rapidly converge for the mean-field Potts model with three or more colors near the critical temperature, highlighting limitations of EES in certain regimes.

## Contribution

The paper proves that EES is slowly mixing in the mean-field Potts model below the critical temperature, extending the understanding of EES limitations to models with multiple colors.

## Key findings

- EES does not rapidly converge near the critical temperature.
- EES is slowly mixing for the mean-field Potts model with three or more colors.
- Results apply to any number of colors q ≥ 3 with appropriate temperature regimes.

## Abstract

Equi-Energy Sampling (EES, for short) is a method to speed up the convergence of the Metropolis chain, when the latter is slow. We show that there are still models like the mean-field Potts model, where EES does not converge rapidly in certain temperature regimes. Indeed we will show that EES is slowly mixing on the mean-field Potts model, in a regime below the critical temperature. Though we will concentrate on the Potts model with three colors, our arguments remain valid for any number of colors $q \ge 3$, if we adapt the temperature regime. For the situation of the mean-field Potts model this answers a question posed in \cite{HuaKou}.