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Correlation Time

If the correlation function decays exponentially

ϕ(t)exp(t/τ)

then the exponential correlation time can be computed as the average

τexp=tlog|ϕ(t)ϕ(0)|.

If the decay is exponential, then

0dtϕ(t)=0dtϕ(0)exp(t/τ)=τϕ(0),

which suggests another measure of correlation

τint=kϕ(k)ϕ(0),

called the integrated correlation time.