Ising model simulation as python Benchmarking test

This repository contains code to perform simulations of the 2-d Ising model, a mathematical model in statistical mechanics. The model consists of discrete variables that represent magnetic dipole moments of atomic spins that can be in one of two states (+1 or -1). The simulations aim to study phase transitions, specifically the phenomenon of spontaneous magnetization. As new python releases are released I will test them vs the previous releases.

Previously I used numpy but this wasn't ideal situation because I introduced a dependency. So I decided to use the standard library random and math to implement the simulation. The old ising.py file containts this code. But the standatd implementation is in ising_model.py file.

The benchmarks are executed on Macbook pro Apple Silicon M1 version. The python version are installed using homebrew

The arguments of the script are L(length of the lattice), n(number of Monte Carlo cycles).

Also there is a run_bench.sh script that runs the benchmark for all the python versions (3.8-3.11) for different n and L values.

The results are stored in results folder. You can reproduce the results by running the run_bench.sh script.

These are the plots that are generated from the results (using plot_results.py script). I use the png as Github doesn't support embedded pdf files in the README.md.

The benchmarks are also executed on the same Macbook pro Apple Silicon M1 version. The python version are installed using homebrew

The arguments of the script are L(length of the lattice), n(number of Monte Carlo cycles).

time python3.11 ising.py 10 10000
Time it took in seconds is = 109.2954261302948
python3.11 ising.py 10 10000  110.82s user 0.79s system 100% cpu 1:51.38 total

time python3.10 ising.py 10 10000
Time it took in seconds is = 123.83638191223145
python3.10 ising.py 10 10000  124.80s user 0.69s system 101% cpu 2:04.06 total

time python3.9 ising.py 10 10000
Time it took in seconds is = 123.56476402282715
python3.9 ising.py 10 10000  123.94s user 1.08s system 101% cpu 2:03.67 total

time python3.8 ising.py 10 10000
Time it took in seconds is = 135.1741383075714
python3.8 ising.py 10 10000  137.05s user 1.00s system 100% cpu 2:17.24 total

Python started supporting apple silicon starting from python3.8 and I try to make things as consistent as possible. Not to mention that numpy optimization for different version might be unaccounted difference.

This repository is using github actions to run the simulation on ubuntu instance so that this is not limited to have 3.8 as a minimum version but I keep limited test versions before that to avoid having a long CI run. The results are published on a webpage here.

I welcome contributions to improve the code and the efficiency of the simulation. If you would like to contribute, feel free to fork this repository, make your changes, and submit a pull request. Please make sure that your code is clean, well-commented, and does not break the existing functionalities or introduce dependencies.