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arXiv:cond-mat/9802309 · Physical Review Letters

General Method to Determine Replica Symmetry Breaking Transitions

Enzo Marinari, C. Naitza, Francesco Zuliani, Giorgio Parisi A, Marco Picco, Félix Ritort

Published Aug 24, 1998• 46 citations
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Abstract

We introduce a new parameter to investigate replica symmetry breaking transitions using finite-size scaling methods. Based on exact equalities initially derived by F. Guerra this parameter is a direct check of the self-averaging character of the spin-glass order parameter. This new parameter can be used to study models with time reversal symmetry but its greatest interest lies in models where this symmetry is absent. We apply the method to long-range and short-range Ising spin-glasses with and without a magnetic field as well as short-range multispin interaction spin-glasses.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.81.1698

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Comment on “General Method to Determine Replica Symmetry Breaking Transitions”

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In a recent letter Marinari et al [Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 1698 (1998)] introduced a new method to study spin glass transitions and argued that by probing replica symmetry (RS) as opposed to time reversal symmetry (TRS), their method unambiguously shows that replica symmetry breaking (RSB) occurs in short-range spin glasses. In this comment we show that while the new method is indeed useful for studying transitions in systems where TRS is absent (such as the p-spin model studied by them), the conclusion that it shows the existence of RSB in short-range spin glasses is wrong.

arXiv:cond-mat/9811080•Physical Review Letters•Jun 21, 1999•18 citations

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Finite-size effects in the mean-field Ising spin glass and the mean-field three-state Potts glass are investigated by Monte Carlo simulations. In the thermodynamic limit, each model is known to exhibit a continuous phase transition into the ordered state with a full and a one-step replica-symmetry breaking (RSB), respectively. In the Ising case, the Binder parameter g calculated for various finite sizes remains positive at any temperature and crosses at the transition point, while in the Potts case g develops a negative dip without showing a crossing in the g>0 region. By contrast, non-self-averaging parameters always remain positive and show a clear crossing at the transition temperature in both cases. Our finding suggests that care should be taken in interpreting the numerical data of the Binder parameter, particularly when the system exhibits a one-step-like RSB.

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The Phase Transitions in a ppp spin Glass Model: A Numerical Study

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We investigate the balanced $M=4$, $p=4$ spin-glass model for a one-dimensional long-range proxy for the finite dimensional short-range $p$-spin glass model to examine the nature of the glass transition beyond mean-field theory. We perform large-scale Monte Carlo equilibrated simulations for both fully connected and power-law diluted versions of the model. The critical temperatures extracted from the finite-size scaling (FSS) analysis of spin-glass susceptibility are in good agreement with theoretical predictions for $σ= 0, 0.25$, and 0.55. For these values of the long-range exponent $σ$ (which is the power of the decrease of the interactions between the spins with their separation), one might have expected that mean-field theory would provide a good description of the system. However, the spin-overlap distribution and the value of the $λ$-parameter do not provide numerical evidence for a one-step replica symmetry breaking (1RSB) phase transition. Instead, our results indicate a direct transition from the paramagnetic state to a full replica symmetry broken phase, with a renormalized value of $λ\equiv ω_2/ω_1 < 1$ suggesting a continuous FRSB transition, despite this ratio being equal to 2 at mean-field level. A value of $λ> 1$ is required for the discontinuous 1RSB transition. We argue that strong finite-size effects and closely spaced transition temperatures remove the expected 1RSB transition for the system sizes which we can study. For values of the exponent $σ= 0.85$, which roughly corresponds to a three dimensional system, we find that the renormalized value of $λ$ is again less than 1, with no signs of either the 1RSB transition or the continuous FRSB transition, suggesting that the Kauzmann temperature $T_K$ in three dimensions might be zero and the complete absence of phase transitions in structural glasses.

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Replica symmetry breaking in four-dimensional spin glasses

Giorgio Parisi A, Félix Ritort

In this paper we present a new numerical method to test mean-field ideas in the Ising spin glass at finite dimensions. Very large sizes can be studied and numerical results are presented in the case of the four-dimensional Ising spin glass. New exponents are introduced within the spin-glass phase and we find evidence of a phase with replica broken features.

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Replica-symmetry breaking for the Ising spin glass in a transverse field

G. Büttner, Klaus D. Usadel

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Physical review. B, Condensed matter•Oct 1, 1990•37 citations

Nature of the spin-glass phase in models with long-range interactions

Matthew Wittmann

Despite decades of effort, our understanding of low-temperature phase of spin glass models with short-range interactions remains incomplete. Replica symmetry breaking (RSB) theory, based on the solution of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick mean-field model, predicts many pure states; meanwhile, competing theories of short-range systems, such as the droplet picture, predict a single pair of pure states related by time-reversal symmetry, analogously to the ferromagnet. Since RSB certainly holds for the mean-field (infinite-range) model, it is interesting to study short-range models in high dimensions to observe whether RSB also holds here; however, computer simulations of short-range models in high dimensions are difficult because the number of spins to equilibrate grows so rapidly with the linear size of the system.A relatively recent idea which has been fruitful is to instead study one-dimensional models with long-range (power-law) interactions, which are argued to have the same critical behavior as corresponding short-range models in high dimensions, but for which simulations for a range of sizes (crucial for finite-size scaling analysis) are feasible. For these one-dimensional long-range (1DLR) models, we fill in a previously unexplored region of parameter space where the interactions become sufficiently long-range that they must be rescaled with the system size to maintain the thermodynamic limit. We find strong evidence that detailed behavior of the 1DLR models everywhere in this "nonextensive regime" is identical to that of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model, lending support to a recent conjecture.In an attempt to distinguish the RSB and droplet pictures, we study recently-proposed observables based on the statistics of individual disorder samples, rather than simply averaging over the disorder as is most frequently done in previous studies. We compare Monte Carlo results for 1DLR models which are proxies for short-range models in 3, 4, and 10 dimensions with previously-obtained data for the 3D and 4D short-range models and the SK model. For one statistic, which is expected to sharply distinguish between the two pictures in the thermodynamic limit, we find that larger system sizes than those currently feasible to simulate are needed to obtain an unambiguous result. We also find that two other recently-proposed statistics, the median of the cumulative overlap distribution and the "typical" overlap distribution, are not particularly helpful in distinguishing between the RSB and droplet pictures.If there are many pure states in the spin-glass phase, we need to carry out some sort of statistical average over them to obtain the thermodynamics. One such prescription for doing this is called the "metastate." Motivated by similarities between the average over pure states specified by the metastate theory and that presumably generated by the nonequilibrium dynamics, we study a 1DLR model which is a proxy for a short-range model in $d=8$ dimensions and measure the evolution of dynamical correlations. We find that the spatial decay of the correlations at distances less than the dynamical correlation length $\\xi(t)$ agrees quantitatively with the predictions of the metastate theory, evaluated according to the RSB picture. We also compute the dynamic exponent defined by $\\xi(t) \\propto t^{1/z(T)}$ and find that it is compatible with the mean-field value of the critical dynamical exponent for short-range spin glasses.Finally, we present a unified view of finite-size scaling (FSS) in dimensions $d$ above the upper critical dimension $d_u$, for both free and periodic boundary conditions. For $d>d_u$, a dangerous irrelevant variable is responsible for both the violation of hyperscaling and the violation of "standard" FSS. We find that the modified hyperscaling proposed to allow for this applies only to $\\vec{k}=\\vec{0}$ fluctuations, while standard FSS applies to $\\vec{k}\\neq\\vec{0}$ fluctuations. Hence the exponent $\\eta$ describing the power-law decay of correlations at criticality is unambiguously $\\eta=0$. With free boundary conditions, the finite-size "shift" is greater than the rounding. Nonetheless, using $T-T_L$, where $T_L$ is the finite-size pseudocritical temperature, as the scaling variable, the data do collapse onto a scaling form that includes the behavior both at $T_L$, where the susceptibility $\\chi$ diverges like $L^{d/2}$, and the bulk $T_c$, where it diverges like $L^2$. We support these claims with data from large-scale simulations of the five-dimensional Ising model.

•Jan 1, 2015•3 citations
We introduce a new parameter to investigate replica symmetry breaking transitions using finite-size scaling methods. Based on exact equalities initially derived by F. Guerra this parameter is a direct check of the self-averaging character of the spin-glass order parameter. This new parameter can be used to study models with time reversal symmetry but its greatest interest lies in models where this symmetry is absent. We apply the method to long-range and short-range Ising spin-glasses with and without a magnetic field as well as short-range multispin interaction spin-glasses.
In a recent letter Marinari et al [Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 1698 (1998)] introduced a new method to study spin glass transitions and argued that by probing replica symmetry (RS) as opposed to time reversal symmetry (TRS), their method unambiguously shows that replica symmetry breaking (RSB) occurs in short-range spin glasses. In this comment we show that while the new method is indeed useful for studying transitions in systems where TRS is absent (such as the p-spin model studied by them), the conclusion that it shows the existence of RSB in short-range spin glasses is wrong.
Finite-size effects in the mean-field Ising spin glass and the mean-field three-state Potts glass are investigated by Monte Carlo simulations. In the thermodynamic limit, each model is known to exhibit a continuous phase transition into the ordered state with a full and a one-step replica-symmetry breaking (RSB), respectively. In the Ising case, the Binder parameter g calculated for various finite sizes remains positive at any temperature and crosses at the transition point, while in the Potts case g develops a negative dip without showing a crossing in the g>0 region. By contrast, non-self-averaging parameters always remain positive and show a clear crossing at the transition temperature in both cases. Our finding suggests that care should be taken in interpreting the numerical data of the Binder parameter, particularly when the system exhibits a one-step-like RSB.
We investigate the balanced M=4M=4M=4, p=4p=4p=4 spin-glass model for a one-dimensional long-range proxy for the finite dimensional short-range ppp-spin glass model to examine the nature of the glass transition beyond mean-field theory. We perform large-scale Monte Carlo equilibrated simulations for both fully connected and power-law diluted versions of the model. The critical temperatures extracted from the finite-size scaling (FSS) analysis of spin-glass susceptibility are in good agreement with theoretical predictions for σ=0,0.25σ= 0, 0.25σ=0,0.25, and 0.55. For these values of the long-range exponent σσσ (which is the power of the decrease of the interactions between the spins with their separation), one might have expected that mean-field theory would provide a good description of the system. However, the spin-overlap distribution and the value of the λλλ-parameter do not provide numerical evidence for a one-step replica symmetry breaking (1RSB) phase transition. Instead, our results indicate a direct transition from the paramagnetic state to a full replica symmetry broken phase, with a renormalized value of λ≡ω2/ω1<1λ\equiv ω_2/ω_1 < 1λ≡ω2​/ω1​<1 suggesting a continuous FRSB transition, despite this ratio being equal to 2 at mean-field level. A value of λ>1λ> 1λ>1 is required for the discontinuous 1RSB transition. We argue that strong finite-size effects and closely spaced transition temperatures remove the expected 1RSB transition for the system sizes which we can study. For values of the exponent σ=0.85σ= 0.85σ=0.85, which roughly corresponds to a three dimensional system, we find that the renormalized value of λλλ is again less than 1, with no signs of either the 1RSB transition or the continuous FRSB transition, suggesting that the Kauzmann temperature TKT_KTK​ in three dimensions might be zero and the complete absence of phase transitions in structural glasses.
Parisi's replica-symmetry-breaking scheme is applied to the quantum Sherrington-Kirkpatrick Ising spin glass in a transverse magnetic field. The order-parameter function q(x) is calculated near Tf{\mathit{T}}_{\mathit{f}}Tf​, while for all temperatures the first stage of replica-symmetry breaking is calculated. Internal energy, entropy, and magnetic susceptibility are calculated in order to investigate the quality of both the replica-symmetric and the replica-symmetry-broken theories.
Despite decades of effort, our understanding of low-temperature phase of spin glass models with short-range interactions remains incomplete. Replica symmetry breaking (RSB) theory, based on the solution of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick mean-field model, predicts many pure states; meanwhile, competing theories of short-range systems, such as the droplet picture, predict a single pair of pure states related by time-reversal symmetry, analogously to the ferromagnet. Since RSB certainly holds for the mean-field (infinite-range) model, it is interesting to study short-range models in high dimensions to observe whether RSB also holds here; however, computer simulations of short-range models in high dimensions are difficult because the number of spins to equilibrate grows so rapidly with the linear size of the system.A relatively recent idea which has been fruitful is to instead study one-dimensional models with long-range (power-law) interactions, which are argued to have the same critical behavior as corresponding short-range models in high dimensions, but for which simulations for a range of sizes (crucial for finite-size scaling analysis) are feasible. For these one-dimensional long-range (1DLR) models, we fill in a previously unexplored region of parameter space where the interactions become sufficiently long-range that they must be rescaled with the system size to maintain the thermodynamic limit. We find strong evidence that detailed behavior of the 1DLR models everywhere in this "nonextensive regime" is identical to that of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model, lending support to a recent conjecture.In an attempt to distinguish the RSB and droplet pictures, we study recently-proposed observables based on the statistics of individual disorder samples, rather than simply averaging over the disorder as is most frequently done in previous studies. We compare Monte Carlo results for 1DLR models which are proxies for short-range models in 3, 4, and 10 dimensions with previously-obtained data for the 3D and 4D short-range models and the SK model. For one statistic, which is expected to sharply distinguish between the two pictures in the thermodynamic limit, we find that larger system sizes than those currently feasible to simulate are needed to obtain an unambiguous result. We also find that two other recently-proposed statistics, the median of the cumulative overlap distribution and the "typical" overlap distribution, are not particularly helpful in distinguishing between the RSB and droplet pictures.If there are many pure states in the spin-glass phase, we need to carry out some sort of statistical average over them to obtain the thermodynamics. One such prescription for doing this is called the "metastate." Motivated by similarities between the average over pure states specified by the metastate theory and that presumably generated by the nonequilibrium dynamics, we study a 1DLR model which is a proxy for a short-range model in d=8d=8d=8 dimensions and measure the evolution of dynamical correlations. We find that the spatial decay of the correlations at distances less than the dynamical correlation length xi(t)\\xi(t)xi(t) agrees quantitatively with the predictions of the metastate theory, evaluated according to the RSB picture. We also compute the dynamic exponent defined by xi(t)proptot1/z(T)\\xi(t) \\propto t^{1/z(T)}xi(t)proptot1/z(T) and find that it is compatible with the mean-field value of the critical dynamical exponent for short-range spin glasses.Finally, we present a unified view of finite-size scaling (FSS) in dimensions ddd above the upper critical dimension dud_udu​, for both free and periodic boundary conditions. For d>dud>d_ud>du​, a dangerous irrelevant variable is responsible for both the violation of hyperscaling and the violation of "standard" FSS. We find that the modified hyperscaling proposed to allow for this applies only to veck=vec0\\vec{k}=\\vec{0}veck=vec0 fluctuations, while standard FSS applies to veckneqvec0\\vec{k}\\neq\\vec{0}veckneqvec0 fluctuations. Hence the exponent eta\\etaeta describing the power-law decay of correlations at criticality is unambiguously eta=0\\eta=0eta=0. With free boundary conditions, the finite-size "shift" is greater than the rounding. Nonetheless, using T−TLT-T_LT−TL​, where TLT_LTL​ is the finite-size pseudocritical temperature, as the scaling variable, the data do collapse onto a scaling form that includes the behavior both at TLT_LTL​, where the susceptibility chi\\chichi diverges like Ld/2L^{d/2}Ld/2, and the bulk TcT_cTc​, where it diverges like L2L^2L2. We support these claims with data from large-scale simulations of the five-dimensional Ising model.