Mayer sampling: calculation of cluster integrals using free-energy perturbation methods.

Free-energy simulation methods are applied toward the calculation of cluster integrals that appear in diagrammatic methods of statistical mechanics. In this approach, Monte Carlo sampling is performed on a number of molecules equal to the order of the integral, and configurations are weighted according to the absolute value of the integrand. An umbrella-sampling average yields the value of the cluster integral in reference to a known integral. Virial coefficients, up to the sixth for the Lennard-Jones model and the fifth for the SPCE model of water, are calculated as a demonstration.