Journal of Statistical Physics, Vol. 30, No. 1, 1983. p. 37-44.
The effects of various boundary conditions on the Monte Carlo method have been studied through an analysis of the two-dimensional Ising model using a 30 x 30 system. The following boundary conditions were used: mean field, free edges, periodic, and correlated. The results confirm the reliablility of periodic boundary conditions but the correlated boundary conditions are comparable and in some instances yield results (the critical temperature, for example) that are in better agreement with the exact values.