Faster magnet sorting with a threshold acceptance algorithm

The authors introduce here a new technique for sorting magnets to minimize the field errors in permanent magnet insertion devices. Simulated annealing has been used in this role, but they find the technique of threshold acceptance produces results of equal quality in less computer time. Threshold accepting would be of special value in designing very long insertion devices, such as long FEL's. Their application of threshold acceptance to magnet sorting showed that it converged to equivalently low values of the cost function, but that it converged significantly faster. They present typical cases showing time to convergence for various error tolerances, magnet numbers, and temperature schedules