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arXiv:1609.09024 · Physical review. E

Dual time scales in simulated annealing of a two-dimensional Ising spin glass

Shanon J. Rubin, Na Xu, Anders W. Sandvik

Published May 22, 2017• 13 citations
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Abstract

We apply a generalized Kibble-Zurek out-of-equilibrium scaling ansatz to simulated annealing when approaching the spin-glass transition at temperature T=0 of the two-dimensional Ising model with random J=±1 couplings. Analyzing the spin-glass order parameter and the excess energy as functions of the system size and the annealing velocity in Monte Carlo simulations with Metropolis dynamics, we find scaling where the energy relaxes slower than the spin-glass order parameter, i.e., there are two different dynamic exponents. The values of the exponents relating the relaxation time scales to the system length, τ∼L^{z}, are z=8.28±0.03 for the relaxation of the order parameter and z=10.31±0.04 for the energy relaxation. We argue that the behavior with dual time scales arises as a consequence of the entropy-driven ordering mechanism within droplet theory. We point out that the dynamic exponents found here for T→0 simulated annealing are different from the temperature-dependent equilibrium dynamic exponent z_{eq}(T), for which previous studies have found a divergent behavior: z_{eq}(T→0)→∞. Thus, our study shows that, within Metropolis dynamics, it is easier to relax the system to one of its degenerate ground states than to migrate at low temperatures between regions of the configuration space surrounding different ground states. In a more general context of optimization, our study provides an example of robust dense-region solutions for which the excess energy (the conventional cost function) may not be the best measure of success.

DOI
10.1103/physreve.95.052133

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We apply a generalized Kibble-Zurek out-of-equilibrium scaling ansatz to simulated annealing when approaching the spin-glass transition at temperature T=0 of the two-dimensional Ising model with random J=±1 couplings. Analyzing the spin-glass order parameter and the excess energy as functions of the system size and the annealing velocity in Monte Carlo simulations with Metropolis dynamics, we find scaling where the energy relaxes slower than the spin-glass order parameter, i.e., there are two different dynamic exponents. The values of the exponents relating the relaxation time scales to the system length, τ∼L^{z}, are z=8.28±0.03 for the relaxation of the order parameter and z=10.31±0.04 for the energy relaxation. We argue that the behavior with dual time scales arises as a consequence of the entropy-driven ordering mechanism within droplet theory. We point out that the dynamic exponents found here for T→0 simulated annealing are different from the temperature-dependent equilibrium dynamic exponent z_{eq}(T), for which previous studies have found a divergent behavior: z_{eq}(T→0)→∞. Thus, our study shows that, within Metropolis dynamics, it is easier to relax the system to one of its degenerate ground states than to migrate at low temperatures between regions of the configuration space surrounding different ground states. In a more general context of optimization, our study provides an example of robust dense-region solutions for which the excess energy (the conventional cost function) may not be the best measure of success.
We carry out simulated annealing and employ a generalized Kibble-Zurek scaling hypothesis to study the two-dimensional Ising spin glass with normal-distributed couplings. The system has an equilibrium glass transition at temperature T=0. From a scaling analysis when T→0 at different annealing velocities v, we find power-law scaling in the system size for the velocity required in order to relax toward the ground state, v∼L^{-(z+1/ν)}, the Kibble-Zurek ansatz where z is the dynamic critical exponent and ν the previously known correlation-length exponent, ν≈3.6. We find z≈13.6 for both the Edwards-Anderson spin-glass order parameter and the excess energy. This is different from a previous study of the system with bimodal couplings [Rubin et al., Phys. Rev. E 95, 052133 (2017)2470-004510.1103/PhysRevE.95.052133] where the dynamics is faster (z is smaller) and the above two quantities relax with different dynamic exponents (with that of the energy being larger). We argue that the different behaviors arise as a consequence of the different low-energy landscapes: for normal-distributed couplings the ground state is unique (up to a spin reflection), while the system with bimodal couplings is massively degenerate. Our results reinforce the conclusion of anomalous entropy-driven relaxation behavior in the bimodal Ising glass. In the case of a continuous coupling distribution, our results presented here also indicate that, although Kibble-Zurek scaling holds, the perturbative behavior normally applying in the slow limit breaks down, likely due to quasidegenerate states, and the scaling function takes a different form.
We study the dynamical scaling properties of the two-dimensional fully frustrated Ising model by simulated annealing. The model has a highly degenerate, critical ground state with well known equilibrium properties. To study its out-of-equilibrium behavior, we develop an annealing protocol that is convenient for extending the Kibble-Zurek mechanism to the case of an exponentially divergent correlation length in the limit of the temperature T→Tc=0T \to T_c = 0T→Tc​=0. We find excellent agreement with the scaling forms derived, including a dependence on the initial temperature that is not present in the conventional Kibble-Zurek mechanism. The dynamic exponent zzz is consistent among all quantities studied; fits of its dependence on the initial temperature give z=1.99(2)z = 1.99(2)z=1.99(2) (susceptibility), z=2.072(8)z = 2.072(8)z=2.072(8) (excess energy), and z=2.09(3)z = 2.09(3)z=2.09(3) (Edwards-Anderson order parameter). These values are close to z=2z=2z=2, which is consistent with previous studies of relaxation after instantaneous quenches and of time dependent correlations in equilibrium, including the estimate z=2.004(9)z = 2.004(9)z=2.004(9) from equilibrium autocorrelation functions.
We discuss an Ising spin glass where each S=1/2 spin is coupled antiferromagnetically to three other spins (3-regular graphs). Inducing quantum fluctuations by a time-dependent transverse field, we use out-of-equilibrium quantum Monte Carlo simulations to study dynamic scaling at the quantum glass transition. Comparing the dynamic exponent and other critical exponents with those of the classical (temperature-driven) transition, we conclude that quantum annealing is less efficient than classical simulated annealing in bringing the system into the glass phase. Quantum computing based on the quantum annealing paradigm is therefore inferior to classical simulated annealing for this class of problems. We also comment on previous simulations where a parameter is changed with the simulation time, which is very different from the true Hamiltonian dynamics simulated here.
We study the out-of-equilibrium scaling behavior of two-dimensional and three-dimensional Ising systems, when they are slowly driven across their magnetic first-order transitions at low temperature T<T_{c}, where T_{c} is the temperature of their continuous transition. We consider Kibble-Zurek (KZ) protocols in which a spatially homogenous magnetic field h varies as h(t)=t/t_{s} with a timescale t_{s}. The KZ dynamics starts from negatively magnetized configurations equilibrated at h_{i}<0 and stops at a positive value of h where the configurations acquire a positive average magnetization. We consider the Metropolis and the heat-bath dynamics, which are two specific examples of a purely relaxational dynamics. We focus on two different dynamic regimes. We consider the out-equilibrium finite-size scaling (OFSS) limit in which the system size L and the timescale t_{s} diverge simultaneously, keeping an appropriate combination fixed. Then, we analyze the KZ dynamics in the thermodynamic limit (TL), obtained by taking first the L→∞ limit at fixed t and t_{s}, and then considering the scaling behavior in the large-t_{s} limit. Our numerical results provide evidence of OFSS, as predicted by general scaling arguments. The results in the TL show the emergence of spinodal-like behaviors: The passage from the negatively magnetized phase to the positively magnetized one occurs at positive values h_{*}>0 of the magnetic field, which decrease as h_{*}∼1/(lnt_{s})^{κ}, with κ=2 and κ=1 in two and three dimensions, respectively, for t_{s}→∞. We identify σ≡t(lnt)^{κ}/t_{s} as the relevant scaling variable associated with the KZ dynamics in the TL.
We describe results of Monte Carlo simulation studies on the Ising spin glass in four dimensions on a hypercubic lattice with nearest neighbor bonds. Studies of the equilibrium static properties show that the system undergoes a genuine phase transition to an ordered spin glass phase. Critical dynamical behavior is analyzed to obtain the dynamic exponent. Finally, we describe results on the spin glass phase, in particular the finite size scaling of the order parameter distribution function, and compare it with existing models of the spin glass phase, namely the droplet model and the Parisi solution for the low temperature phase of the infinite range spin glass.
Abstract Systems with quenched disorder possess complex energy landscapes that are challenging to explore under conventional Monte Carlo methods. In this work, we implement an efficient entropy sampling scheme for accurate computation of the entropy function in low-energy regions. The method is applied to the two-dimensional ± J random-bond Ising model, where frustration is controlled by the fraction p of ferromagnetic bonds. We investigate the low-temperature paramagnetic–ferromagnetic phase boundary below the multicritical point at T N = 0.9530(4), P N = 0.89078(8), as well as the zero-temperature ferromagnetic–spin-glass transition. Finite-size scaling analysis reveals that the phase boundary for T < T N exhibits reentrant behavior. By analyzing the evolution of the magnetization-resolved density of states g ( E , M ) and ground-state spin configurations against increasing frustration, we provide strong evidence that the zero-temperature transition is a mixed-order. Finite-size scaling conducted on the spin-glass side supports the validity of β = 0, where β is the magnetization exponent, with a correlation length exponent ν = 1.50(8). Our results provide new insights into the nature of the ferromagnetic-to-spin-glass phase transition in an extensively degenerate ground state.