By a recursive method numerically exact free energies and correlation functions are calculated for finite two- and three-dimensional Ising lattices with bonds chosen randomly either ±J or from a gaussian distribution. While (dynamic) Monte Carlo simulations of precisely the same systems show the onset of Edwards-Anderson ordering at rather sharply defined nonzero freezing temperature Tf, the exact static calculations imply that there is no static order parameter qEA = [<Si≳2T]av at nonzero temperature. The correlation length, which would become infinite when qEA would start to become nonzero, is found at Tf to be of the order of a few lattice spacings only. As a result, the freezing-in of these models is identified as a dynamic phenomenon, and not a phase transition associated with static Edwards-Anderson order. The specific heat of the gaussian spin glass is found to vary nearly linear with temperature. On the other hand, in two-dimensional Ising systems with random fields a nonzero (Mattis-like) spin glass order is found.
By a recursive method numerically exact free energies are calculated for square $L\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}L$ Ising lattices, with
6< L< 18, for several kinds of frozen-in bond disorder: (i) bonds $\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}J$ with various concentrations of negative bonds; (ii) bonds distributed according to a Gaussian distribution. Ground states of these systems are identified, the response to "ordering fields" is studied, and the correlation function
〈S0SR〉T2 is calculated as a function of temperature for various distances
R in the lattice. This correlation is found to decay strongly (presumably exponentially) with increasing
R even at temperatures distinctly below the apparent freezing temperature
Tf of previous Monte Carlo simulations; this "freezing transition" is hence unambiguously identified as a nonequilibrium effect. However, the correlation length is found to become long ranged at low temperatures, and it is suggested that a phase transition still occurs at
T=0; while in the Gaussian model the spin-glass order parameter
q(T=0)=1, it is found that $q\ensuremath{\equiv}0$ in the $\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}J$ model where rather a power-law decay of correlations
〈S0SR〉T=02 occurs. Performing Monte Carlo simulations for precisely the same systems, the cooling times necessary to reach the true ground states of the system are identified, as well as the simulation times necessary to reach thermal equilibrium for the correlation functions. These times are found to increase so strongly with
L that for systems of macroscopic size the correct thermal equilibrium is probably irrelevant for experimental purposes. Rather a statistical mechanics based on the many long-lived metastable states would be required.
The statistical mechanics of finite $L\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}L$ Ising square lattices in a field $\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}h$ of random sign is investigated numerically by a modified recursive transfer matrix method for
6< L< 16. Our results are consistent with the absence of a spontaneous magnetization for $h\ensuremath{\ne}0$ even in the ground state. The singularities occurring at
T=0 in the range
0< h< 4J,
J being the exchange constant, are discussed in terms of a cluster expansion. For nonzero
T, less than the critical temperature of the pure two-dimensional Ising model, and
h sufficiently small, the system exhibits a nonzero spin-glass order parameter of the Mattis type although there is no magnetization. The ferromagnetic correlation function becomes long ranged for $h\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$ and is calculated from the domain-wall density.
The statistics of the ground-state and domain-wall energies for the two-dimensional random-bond Ising model on square lattices with independent, identically distributed bonds having probability
p of ${J}_{ij}=\ensuremath{-}1$ and $(1\ensuremath{-}p)$ of
Jij=+1 are studied. We are able to consider large samples of up to
3202 spins by using sophisticated matching algorithms. We study $L\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}L$ systems, but we also consider $L\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}M$ samples, for different aspect ratios
R=L∕M. We find that the scaling behavior of the ground-state energy and its sample-to-sample fluctuations inside the spin-glass region $({p}_{c}\ensuremath{\leqslant}p\ensuremath{\leqslant}1\ensuremath{-}{p}_{c})$ are characterized by simple scaling functions. In particular, the fluctuations exhibit a cusplike singularity at
pc. Inside the spin-glass region, the average domain-wall energy converges to a finite nonzero value as the sample size becomes infinite, holding
R fixed. Here, large finite-size effects are visible, which can be explained for all
p by a single exponent $\ensuremath{\omega}\ensuremath{\approx}2∕3$, provided higher-order corrections to scaling are included. Finally, we confirm the validity of aspect-ratio scaling for $R\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$: the distribution of the domain-wall energies converges to a Gaussian for $R\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$, although the domain walls of neighboring subsystems of size $L\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}L$ are not independent.
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.