Convenient Interface to Inverse Ising (ConIII): A Python 3 Package for Solving Ising-Type Maximum Entropy Models

Abstract

ConIII (pronounced CON-ee) is an open-source Python project providing a simple interface to solving the pairwise and higher order Ising model and a base for extension to other maximum entropy models. We describe the maximum entropy problem and give an overview of the algorithms that are implemented as part of ConIII (https://github.com/eltrompetero/coniii) including Monte Carlo histogram, pseudolikelihood, minimum probability flow, a regularized mean field method, and a cluster expansion method. Our goal is to make a variety of maximum entropy techniques accessible to those unfamiliar with the techniques and accelerate workflow for users. Funding Statement: EDL was supported by an NSF Graduate Fellowship under grant no. DGE-1650441. This research was supported in part by a congressional research grant provided by the Dirksen Congressional Center.

Keywords

• maximum entropy
• maxent
• Ising model
• spin glass
• collective behavior
• statistical inference