Figure 1.

Results of transient simulations from microscopic (q = 1) MC (solid lines) and coarse-grained MC (dotted lines) for a piecewise constant repulsive potential with parameters indicated. For N = 400 (uppermost curves) the noise is significant. For moderate and long-range potentials (e.g., L > 10), coarse-graining leads to excellent results in all expected equilibrium values, dynamics, and noise. Lack of detailed balance (NDB) leads to significantly wrong results, especially for short potentials and small coarse-grainings (e.g., q = 2).