The thermal-to-percolative crossover exponent $\ensuremath{\phi}$, well known for ferromagnetic systems, is studied extensively for Edwards--Anderson spin glasses. The scaling of defect energies are determined at the bond percolation threshold
pc using an improved reduction algorithm. Simulations extend to system sizes above
N=108 in dimensions
d=2,…,7. The results can be related to the behavior of the transition temperature ${T}_{g}\ensuremath{\sim}{(p\ensuremath{-}{p}_{c})}^{\ensuremath{\phi}}$ between the paramagnetic and the glassy regime for $p\ensuremath{\searrow}{p}_{c}$. In three dimensions, where our simulations predict $\ensuremath{\phi}=1.127(5)$, this scaling form for
Tg provides a rare experimental test of predictions arising from the equilibrium theory of low-temperature spin glasses. For dimensions near and above the upper critical dimension, the results provide a challenge to reconcile mean-field theory with finite-dimensional properties.
We study the existence of a spin-glass phase in a field using Monte Carlo simulations performed along a nontrivial path in the field--temperature plane that must cross any putative de Almeida-Thouless instability line. The method is first tested on the Ising spin glass on a Bethe lattice where the instability line separating the spin glass from the paramagnetic state is also computed analytically. While the instability line is reproduced by our simulations on the mean-field Bethe lattice, no such instability line can be found numerically for the short-range three-dimensional model.
A class of infinite-ranged random model Hamiltonians is defined as a limiting case in which the appropriate form of mean-field theory, order parameters and phase diagram to describe spin-glasses may be established. It is believed that these Hamiltonians may be exactly soluble, although a complete solution is not yet available. Thermodynamic properties of the model for Ising and
XY spins are evaluated using a many-replica procedure. Results of the replica theory reproduce properties at and above the ordering temperature which are also predicted by high-temperature expansions, but are in error at low temperatures. Extensive computer simulations of infinite-ranged Ising spin-glasses are presented. They confirm the general details of the predicted phase diagram. The errors in the replica solution are found to be small, and confined to low temperatures. For this model, the extended mean-field theory of Thouless, Anderson, and Palmer gives physically sensible low-temperature predictions. These are in quantitative agreement with the Monte Carlo statics. The dynamics of the infinite-ranged Ising spin-glass are studied in a linearized mean-field theory. Critical slowing down is predicted and found, with correlations decaying as ${e}^{{\ensuremath{-}[\frac{(T\ensuremath{-}{T}_{c})}{T}]}^{2}t}$ for
T greater than
Tc, the spin-glass transition temperature. At and below
Tc, spin-spin correlations are observed to decay to their long-time limit as ${t}^{\ensuremath{-}\frac{1}{2}}$.