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  • Access by Xinjiang University

Statistical Error Due to Finite Time Averaging in Computer Experiments

Robert Zwanzig and Narinder K. Ailawadi

  • University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742

Phys. Rev. 182, 280 – Published 5 June, 1969

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.182.280

Abstract

In using a computer experiment to calculate the time correlation function of some dynamical variable, the ensemble average over an equilibrium distribution in phase space often is replaced by a time average over a finite interval T. It is shown here that the statistical uncertainty due to this kind of average is of the order of 1T12. The coefficient of the square root is related to a characteristic relaxation time of the correlation function. If only time averaging is performed, the resulting statistical uncertainty in typical computer experiments may be of the order of 20%.

References (3)

  1. B. J. Alder and T. Wainwright, in Transport Processes in Statistical Mechanics, edited by I. Prigogine (Interscience Publishers, Inc., N. Y., 1958), pp. 97-131
  2. A. Rahman, Phys. Rev. 136, A405 (1964)
  3. G. D. Harp and B. J. Berne, J. Chem. Phys. 49, 1249 (1968)

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