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Main Authors: Agrawal, Ramgopal, Ciarpaglini, Lorenzo, Marinari, Enzo, Sciandrone, Marco, Scuppa, Diego, Trasatti, Elisa
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.05070
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author Agrawal, Ramgopal
Ciarpaglini, Lorenzo
Marinari, Enzo
Sciandrone, Marco
Scuppa, Diego
Trasatti, Elisa
author_facet Agrawal, Ramgopal
Ciarpaglini, Lorenzo
Marinari, Enzo
Sciandrone, Marco
Scuppa, Diego
Trasatti, Elisa
contents This work explores the global optimization problem of finding lowest-energy configurations (ground states) in disordered continuous spins models from statistical physics, with a particular focus on the random field XY model. Due to an extremely non-convex nature of the associated energy landscape, this problem remains highly challenging. From an optimization perspective, we reformulate the traditional angular Hamiltonian as a constrained problem on the Cartesian product of spheres, allowing the application of Riemannian optimization techniques, which show better computational performances. We compare a MultiStart (MS) strategy against a Monotonic Basin Hopping (MBH) framework, with the aim of highlighting the limitations of standard approaches and the resulting need to resort to more advanced global optimization techniques. Our results demonstrate that MBH consistently outperforms MS in identifying lower-energy configurations, offering superior computational efficiency and numerical stability. This approach establishes a robust link between continuous-spin systems and continuous global optimization, providing a high-performance benchmark for exploring complex energy landscapes.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_05070
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Nonconvex optimization methods for ground states in disordered continuous-spin models
Agrawal, Ramgopal
Ciarpaglini, Lorenzo
Marinari, Enzo
Sciandrone, Marco
Scuppa, Diego
Trasatti, Elisa
Optimization and Control
This work explores the global optimization problem of finding lowest-energy configurations (ground states) in disordered continuous spins models from statistical physics, with a particular focus on the random field XY model. Due to an extremely non-convex nature of the associated energy landscape, this problem remains highly challenging. From an optimization perspective, we reformulate the traditional angular Hamiltonian as a constrained problem on the Cartesian product of spheres, allowing the application of Riemannian optimization techniques, which show better computational performances. We compare a MultiStart (MS) strategy against a Monotonic Basin Hopping (MBH) framework, with the aim of highlighting the limitations of standard approaches and the resulting need to resort to more advanced global optimization techniques. Our results demonstrate that MBH consistently outperforms MS in identifying lower-energy configurations, offering superior computational efficiency and numerical stability. This approach establishes a robust link between continuous-spin systems and continuous global optimization, providing a high-performance benchmark for exploring complex energy landscapes.
title Nonconvex optimization methods for ground states in disordered continuous-spin models
topic Optimization and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.05070