Article on Statistical Mechanics Methods and Phase Transitions in Optimization Problems

Theoretical methods from statistical physics can be used in optimization problems in computer science and mathematics, as they often be defined by an energy-function which needs to minimized to find the optimal solution. These methods can be used to gain information about statistical properties of these systems, and can aid in finding the lowest energy configuration (i.e. optimization). In addition statistical mechanincs can help understand the phase-transitions which occur in a lot of optimization problems. Statistical mechanics has also given inspiration to a generic algorithm for finding the optimal or near-optimal solution to a complex optimization problem, simulated annealing.