We revisit a learning-induced tricritical point, at which three phases with strong, weak, and broken
Z2 symmetry meet, in the phase diagram of a deformed toric code wavefunction subjected to weak measurements. This setting is exactly dual to a classical Bayesian inference phase diagram of the
2D classical Ising model. Here we demonstrate that this tricritical point lies on a distinct
higher Nishimori line, which has an emergent gauge-invariant formulation, just like the ordinary Nishimori line but with a higher replica symmetry as a replica stat-mech model in the replica number
R→2 limit, where disorder is averaged according to the Born rule. As such, the learning tricritical point is in fact a
higher Nishimori critical point. Using this identification, we obtain a number of
exact results at this
higher Nishimori critical point; e.g., we show that the power-law exponent of the Edwards-Anderson correlation function is exactly equal to that of the spin correlation function at the unmeasured Ising critical point and verify this in numerical simulations. Using the tools of the proof of a
c-effective theorem [arXiv:2507.07959], we show that the Casimir effective central charge
ceff decreases under renormalization group (RG) flow from the
higher Nishimori critical point to the unmeasured
2D Ising critical point, and is thus greater than
1/2. This is corroborated by extensive numerical simulations finding
ceff=0.522(1). The analytical result also explains, with a physically motivated assumption, the numerically observed increase of the Casimir effective central charge under the RG flow from the ordinary Nishimori critical point to the clean Ising critical point in the random-bond Ising model. We also discuss
higher Nishimori criticality in general dimensions
D>1.
The very existence of a phase transition for spin glasses in an external magnetic field is controversial, even in high dimensions. We carry out massive simulations of the Ising spin-glass in a field, in six dimensions (which, according to classical-but not generally accepted-field-theoretical studies, is the upper critical dimension). We obtain results compatible with a second-order phase transition and estimate its critical exponents for the simulated lattice sizes. The detailed analysis performed by other authors of the replica symmetric Hamiltonian, under the hypothesis of critical behavior, predicts that the ratio of the renormalized coupling constants remain bounded as the correlation length grows. Our numerical results are in agreement with this expectation.
Phase transitions in a modified Nishimori model, including the model considered by Kitatani, on a two-dimensional square lattice are investigated using a tensor-network-based sampling scheme. In this model, generating bond configurations is computationally demanding because of the correlated random interactions. The employed sampling method enables hierarchical and independent sampling of both bonds and spins. This approach allows high-precision calculations for system sizes up to
L=256. The results provide clear numerical evidence that the spin-glass and ferromagnetic transitions are separated on the Nishimori line, supporting the existence of an intermediate Mattis-like spin-glass phase. This finding is consistent with the reentrant transition numerically observed in the two-dimensional Edwards-Anderson (EA) model. Furthermore, critical exponents estimated via finite-size-scaling analysis indicate that the universality class of the transitions differs from that of the standard independent and identically distributed EA model.
Recent tensor-network samplings of modified Nishimori spin glasses have revealed robust finite-temperature critical transitions in two dimensions, defying the standard Edwards-Anderson lower critical dimension boundary (
dl≈2.5). We present a theoretical framework demonstrating that the discrete
Z2 gauge constraints utilized to bypass Monte Carlo kinetic traps fundamentally alter the system's universality class. By mapping the algorithmic disorder distribution to the 2D Ising Conformal Field Theory (CFT), we prove the emergent spatial variance generates a fractional momentum operator that drives the dynamic upper critical dimension to zero (
du→0). This marginal topology dynamically suppresses the replica-coupling vertices, yielding an infinite-order Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition and a non-integrable replicon divergence that predicts a massive instability toward 1-step Replica Symmetry Breaking (1-RSB). Leveraging a spectral Corner Transfer Matrix Renormalization Group (CTMRG) architecture up to macroscopic scales (
L=1024), we quantitatively validate the topological scaling argument
G((T−Tc)ln(L/L0)). By isolating the continuum field theory from microscopic lattice artifacts, we recover the fundamental lattice metric
L0≈0.94, unequivocally confirming the existence of a distinct, topologically driven spin-glass phase.
We present and solve the replica symmetric equations in the context of the replica cluster variational method for the 2D random bond Ising model (including the 2D Edwards–Anderson spin-glass model). First, we solve a linearized version of these equations to obtain the phase diagrams of the model on the square and triangular lattices. In both cases, the spin-glass transition temperatures and the multicritical point estimations improve largely over the Bethe predictions. Moreover, we show that this phase diagram is consistent with the behavior of inference algorithms on single instances of the problem. Finally, we present a method to consistently find approximate solutions to the equations in the glassy phase. The method is applied to the triangular lattice down to T = 0, also in the presence of an external field.
The Boltzmann distribution encodes our subjective knowledge of the configuration in a classical lattice model, given only its Hamiltonian. If we acquire further information about the configuration from measurement, our knowledge is updated according to Bayes' theorem. We examine the resulting “conditioned ensembles,” finding that they show many new phase transitions and new renormalization-group fixed points. (Similar conditioned ensembles also describe “partial quenches” in which some of the system's degrees of freedom are instantaneously frozen, while the others continue to evolve.) After describing general features of the replica field theories for these problems, we analyze the effect of measurement on illustrative critical systems, including: critical Ising and Potts models, which show surprisingly rich phase diagrams, with RG fixed points at weak, intermediate, and infinite measurement strength; various models involving free fields, XY spins, or flux lines in 2D or 3D; and geometrical models such as polymers or clusters. We also give a formalism for measurement of classical stochastic processes. We use this to make connections with quantum dynamics, in particular with “charge sharpening” in 1D, for which we give a purely hydrodynamic derivation of the known effective field theory. We discuss qualitative differences between RG flows for the above measured systems, described by N → 1 replica limits, and those for disordered systems, described by N → 0 limits. In addition to discussing measurement of critical states, we give a unifying treatment of a family of inference problems for noncritical states. These are related to the Nishimori line in the phase diagram of the random-bond Ising model, and are relevant to various quantum error correction problems. We describe distinct physical interpretations of conditioned ensembles and note interesting open questions.