Density of states method for the Z(3) spin model

We apply the density of states approach to the Z(3) spin model with a chemical potential mu. For determining the density of states we use restricted Monte Carlo simulations on small intervals of the variable for the density. In each interval we probe the response of the system to the variation of a free parameter in the Boltzmann factor. This response is a known function which we fit to the Monte Carlo data and the parameters of the density are obtained from that fit (functional fit approch; FFA). We evaluate observables related to the particle number and the particle number susceptibility, as well as the free energy. We find that for a surprisingly large range of mu the results from the FFA agree very well with the results from a reference simulation in the dual formulation of the Z(3) spin model which is free of the complex action problem.Comment: Comments and a figure added. Final version to appear in Physics Letters

Developing and testing the density of states FFA method in the SU(3) spin model

The Density of States Functional Fit Approach (DoS FFA) is a recently proposed modern density of states technique suitable for calculations in lattice field theories with a complex action problem. In this article we present an exploratory implementation of DoS FFA for the SU(3) spin system at finite chemical potential $\mu$ - an effective theory for the Polyakov loop. This model has a complex action problem similar to the one of QCD but also allows for a dual simulation in terms of worldlines where the complex action problem is solved. Thus we can compare the DoS FFA results to the reference data from the dual simulation and assess the performance of the new approach. We find that the method reproduces the observables from the dual simulation for a large range of $\mu$ values, including also phase transitions, illustrating that DoS FFA is an interesting approach for exploring phase diagrams of lattice field theories with a complex action problem.Comment: Plot, reference and comments added. Final version to appear in Nucl. Phys.