Sanibel Symposium

We introduce a classical analogue to quantum optimal control theory and present the classical phase space density formulation of the diffeomorphic modulation under observable-responsepreserving homotopy (DMORPH) algorithm. Inspired by our work with Quantum Optimal Control Optimization (QuOCO),[1] we apply classical optimal control theory to the problem of energy minimization. The Classical Optimal Control Optimization (COCO) algorithm combines the strategy of QuOCO with the advantages of parallelized classical dynamics. The method is illustrated on golf potentials, rugged potentials, and multidimensional Lennard-Jones clusters to demonstrate global minimization through ultrafast directed motion.