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arXiv:1008.1733 · Journal of Statistical Mechanics Theory and Experiment

Stability of the replica-symmetric saddle point in general mean-field spin-glass models

Katharina Janzen, Andreas Engel

Published Dec 1, 2010• 4 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Within the replica approach to mean-field spin-glasses the transition from ergodic high-temperature behaviour to the glassy low-temperature phase is marked by the instability of the replica-symmetric saddle-point. For general spin-glass models with non-Gaussian field distributions the corresponding Hessian is a $2^n\times 2^n$ matrix with the number $n$ of replicas tending to zero eventually. We block-diagonalize this Hessian matrix using representation theory of the permutation group and identify the blocks related to the spin-glass susceptibility. Performing the limit $n\to 0$ within these blocks we derive expressions for the de~Almeida-Thouless line of general spin-glass models. Specifying these expressions to the cases of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick, Viana-Bray, and the Lévy spin glass respectively we obtain results in agreement with previous findings using the cavity approach.

DOI
10.1088/1742-5468/2010/12/p12002

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Within the replica approach to mean-field spin-glasses the transition from ergodic high-temperature behaviour to the glassy low-temperature phase is marked by the instability of the replica-symmetric saddle-point. For general spin-glass models with non-Gaussian field distributions the corresponding Hessian is a 2n×2n2^n\times 2^n2n×2n matrix with the number nnn of replicas tending to zero eventually. We block-diagonalize this Hessian matrix using representation theory of the permutation group and identify the blocks related to the spin-glass susceptibility. Performing the limit n→0n\to 0n→0 within these blocks we derive expressions for the de~Almeida-Thouless line of general spin-glass models. Specifying these expressions to the cases of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick, Viana-Bray, and the Lévy spin glass respectively we obtain results in agreement with previous findings using the cavity approach.
This thesis is concerned with the mean field theory of spin glasses within the replica method approach. We have studied the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model [33,4δ] both with Ising and m-component spins. It is shown that the replica symmetric solution gives an instability in the condensed phase which requires a breaking of replica symmetry in the spin glass phase. The various broken replica symmetry solutions proposed thus far (Bray and Moore [52], Blandin et al [53], Parisi [54]) are reviewed and particular attention is given to the one proposed by Parisi. The order parameter susceptibility and the stability of the solution are studied within this breaking of replica symmetry scheme which give results in agreement with the predictions of TAP [47] and Bray and Moore [52]. The breakdown of linear response theory in the spin glass phase is also discussed.
We study the transition of short-range Ising spin glasses in a magnetic field, within a general replica symmetric field theory, which contains three masses and eight cubic couplings, that is defined in terms of the fields representing the replicon, anomalous, and longitudinal modes. We discuss the symmetry of the theory in the limit of replica number $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{n}0,$ and consider the regular case where the longitudinal and anomalous masses remain degenerate. The spin-glass transitions in zero and nonzero fields are analyzed in a common framework. The mean-field treatment shows the usual results, that is a transition in zero field, where all the modes become critical, and a transition in nonzero field, at the de Almeida--Thouless (AT) line, with only the replicon mode critical. Renormalization group methods are used to study the critical behavior, to order $\ensuremath{\varepsilon}=6\ensuremath{-}d.$ In the general theory we find a stable fixed point associated with a spin-glass transition in a zero field. This fixed point becomes unstable in the presence of a small magnetic field, and we calculate crossover exponents, which we relate to zero-field critical exponents. In a finite magnetic field, we find no physical stable fixed point to describe the AT transition, in agreement with previous results of other authors.
I study in detail the quantum Sherrington-Kirkpatrick (SK) model, i.e., the infinite-range Ising spin glass in a transverse field, by solving numerically the effective one-dimensional model that the quantum SK model can be mapped to in the thermodynamic limit. I find that the replica symmetric solution is unstable down to zero temperature, in contrast to some previous claims, and so there is not only a line of transitions in the (longitudinal) field-temperature plane (the de Almeida-Thouless, AT, line) where replica symmetry is broken, but also a quantum de Almeida-Thouless (QuAT) line in the transverse field-longitudinal field plane at T=0. If the QuAT line also occurs in models with short-range interactions its presence might affect the performance of quantum annealers when solving spin glass-type problems with a bias (i.e., magnetic field).
We solve the fermionic version of the Ising spin glass for arbitrary filling µ and temperature T taking into account replica symmetry breaking. Using a simple exact mapping from µ to the anisotropy parameter D , we also obtain the solution of the S = 1 Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model. An analytic expression for T = 0 gives an improved critical value for the first-order phase transition. We revisit the question of stability against replica-diagonal fluctuations and find that the appearance of complex eigenvalues of the Almeida-Thouless matrix is not an artefact of the replica-symmetric approximation.
The replica-symmetric cluster expansion for the Ising spin glass is reviewed and explained. The expansion allows computation of various quantities and correlations directly in finite dimensions, without recourse to the mean-field theory or the saddle point. The expansion for the free energy is recovered with the use of external fields that couple to the replica-symmetric Edwards-Anderson order parameter. The expansion scheme is applied to the Edwards-Anderson susceptibility. The expansion diverges in the mean-field [infinite dimensionality] limit. The divergent expansion, when naively summed, yields the negative replicon mass of the mean-field theory. This so-called Almeida-Thouless instability of the replica-symmetric mean-field theory is argued to be absent in finite dimensions. The argument, similar to the one already reported for the entropy, depends on the low-temperature behavior of terms in the expansion at finite dimensions. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
The infinite-range Ising spin glass in the presence of a Gaussian random field is investigated by means of the replica method. The replica-symmetric solution and its instability are discussed; it is shown that the Almeida-Thouless instability regions are always reduced by the random field. The crossover exponent \ensuremath{\varphi} associated with the irreversibility line is shown to be nonuniversal in the presence of a random field, varying in a range from 1 to 3. Some of our results are compared with recent experimental measurements performed in the diluted antiferromagnet Fex{\mathrm{Fe}}_{\mathit{x}}Fex​${\mathrm{Zn}}_{1\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}\mathit{x}}$F2{\mathrm{F}}_{2}F2​.