Simulating self-avoiding walks in bounded domains

Abstract

Let D be a domain in the plane containing the origin. We are interested in the ensemble of self-avoiding walks (SAW's) in D which start at the origin and end on the boundary of the domain. We introduce an ensemble of SAW's that we expect to have the same scaling limit. The advantage of our ensemble is that it can be simulated using the pivot algorithm. Our ensemble makes it possible to accurately study SLE predictions for the SAW in bounded simply connected domains. One such prediction is the distribution along the boundary of the endpoint of the SAW. We use the pivot algorithm to simulate our ensemble and study this density. In particular the lattice effects in this density that persist in the scaling limit are seen to be given by a purely local function.