The phase-ordering kinetics of the ferromagnetic two-dimensional Ising model with uniform bond disorder is investigated by intensive Monte Carlo simulations. Simple ageing behaviour is observed in the single-time correlator and the two-time responses and correlators. The dynamical exponent z and the autocorrelation exponent lambda_C only depend on the ratio eps/T, where eps describes the width of the distribution of the disorder, whereas a more complicated behaviour is found for the non-equilibrium exponent a of the two-time response as well as for the autoresponse exponent lambda_R. The scaling functions are observed to depend only on the dimensionless ratio eps/T. If the length scales are measured in terms of the time-dependent domain size L(t), the form of the scaling functions is in general independent of both eps and T. Conditions limiting the validity of this `superuniversality' are discussed.
We present comprehensive numerical results for domain growth in the two-dimensional {\it Random Bond Ising Model} (RBIM) with nonconserved Glauber kinetics. We characterize the evolution via the {\it domain growth law}, and two-time quantities like the {\it autocorrelation function} and {\it autoresponse function}. Our results clearly establish that the growth law shows a crossover from a pre-asymptotic regime with "power-law growth with a disorder-dependent exponent" to an asymptotic regime with "logarithmic growth". We compare this behavior with previous results on one-dimensional disordered…
Using extensive Monte Carlo simulations we study aging properties of two disordered systems quenched below their critical point, namely the two-dimensional random-bond Ising model and the three-dimensional Edwards-Anderson Ising spin glass with a bimodal distribution of the coupling constants. We study the two-times autocorrelation and space-time correlation functions and show that in both systems a simple aging scenario prevails in terms of the scaling variable $L(t)/L(s)$, where $L$ is the time-dependent correlation length, whereas $s$ is the waiting time and $t$ is the observation time. The…
We investigate the effects of quenched randomness on topological quantum phase transitions in strongly interacting two-dimensional systems. We focus first on transitions driven by the condensation of a subset of fractionalized quasiparticles (`anyons') identified with `electric charge' excitations of a phase with intrinsic topological order. All other anyons have nontrivial mutual statistics with the condensed subset and hence become confined at the anyon condensation transition. Using a combination of microscopically exact duality transformations and asymptotically exact real-space renormaliz…
The critical exponents of continuous phase transitions of a Hermitian system depend on and only on its dimensionality and symmetries. This is the celebrated notion of the universality of continuous phase transitions. Here we report the superuniversality notion of Anderson localization transitions in non-Hermitian two-dimensional (2D) systems with exceptional points in which the critical exponents do not depend on the symmetries. The Anderson localization transitions are numerically studied by using the finite-size scaling analysis of the participation ratios. At the exceptional points of eithe…
We comprehensively study non-equilibrium relaxation and aging processes in the two-dimensional random-site Ising model through numerical simulations. We discuss the dynamical correlation length as well as scaling functions of various two-times quantities as a function of temperature and of the degree of dilution. For already modest values of the dynamical correlation length $L$ deviations from a simple algebraic growth, $L(t) \sim t^{1/z}$, are observed. When taking this non-algebraic growth properly into account, a simple aging behavior of the autocorrelation function is found. This is in sta…
The two-dimensional case occupies a special position in the theory of critical phenomena due to the exact results provided by lattice solutions and, directly in the continuum, by the infinite-dimensional character of the conformal algebra. However, some sectors of the theory, and most notably criticality in systems with quenched disorder and short range interactions, have appeared out of reach of exact methods and lacked the insight coming from analytical solutions. In this article we review recent progress achieved implementing conformal invariance within the particle description of field the…
We study analytically M-spin-flip stable states in disordered short-ranged Ising models (spin glasses and ferromagnets) in all dimensions and for all M. Our approach is primarily dynamical and is based on the convergence of a zero-temperature dynamical process with flips of lattice animals up to size M and starting from a deep quench, to a metastable limit. The results (rigorous and nonrigorous, in infinite and finite volumes) concern many aspects of metastable states: their numbers, basins of attraction, energy densities, overlaps, remanent magnetizations and relations to thermodynamic states…
Phenomenological thermodynamic theory describing the properties of metastable states in disordered ferromagnets and ferroelectrics with frustrative random interactions is developed and its ability to describe various nonergodic phenomena in real crystals is demonstrated.
The systematic approach for the off-perturbative calculations in disordered systems is developed. The proposed scheme is applied for the random temperature and the random field ferromagnetic Ising models. It is shown that away from the critical point, in the paramagnetic phase of the random temperature model, and in the ferromagnetic phase of the random field one, the free energy contains non-analytic contributions which have the form of essential singularities. It is demonstrated that these contributions appear due to localized in space instanton-like excitations.
Renyi Mutual information (RMI), computed from second Renyi entropies, can identify classical phase transitions from their finite-size scaling at the critical points. We apply this technique to examine the presence or absence of finite temperature phase transitions in various two-dimensional models on a square lattice, which are extensions of the conventional Ising model by adding a quenched disorder. When the quenched disorder causes the nearest neighbor bonds to be both ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic, (a) a spin glass phase exists only at zero temperature, and (b) a ferromagnetic phase e…
We consider certain two-dimensional systems with self--dual points including uniform and disordered $q$-state Potts models. For systems with continuous energy density (such as the disordered versions) it is established that the self--dual point exhibits critical behavior: Infinite susceptibility, vanishing magnetization and power law bounds for the decay of correlations.
We discuss some aspects of the non-equilibrium relaxational dynamics which occur after a quench at a disordered critical point. In particular, we focus on the violation of the fluctuation dissipation theorem for local as well as non-local observables and on persistence properties.
Random fields disorder Ising ferromagnets by aligning single spins in the direction of the random field in three space dimensions, or by flipping large ferromagnetic domains at dimensions two and below. While the former requires random fields of typical magnitude similar to the interaction strength, the latter Imry-Ma mechanism only requires infinitesimal random fields. Recently, it has been shown that for dilute anisotropic dipolar systems a third mechanism exists, where the ferromagnetic phase is disordered by finite-size glassy domains at a random field of finite magnitude that is considera…
The influence of a strong disorder on the critical dynamics of 3D Heisenberg ferromagnet was investigated by high-resolution quasielastic neutron scattering. A new disorder-induced dynamical critical behavior was found, characterized by its critical exponent z=2.3. The dynamical scaling function appeared mainly unaffected by disorder but its description led to a new parameterization of the Renormalization Group theory, as in the case of pure Nickel.
It was realized two decades ago that the two-dimensional diffusive Fermi liquid phase is unstable against arbitrarily weak electron-electron interactions. Recently, using the nonlinear sigma model developed by Finkelstein, several authors have shown that the instability leads to a ferromagnetic state. In this paper, we consider diffusing electrons interacting through a ferromagnetic exchange interaction. Using the Hartree-Fock approximation to directly calculate the electron self energy, we find that the total energy is minimized by a finite ferromagnetic moment for arbitrarily weak interactio…
Methods for understanding classical disordered spin systems with interactions conforming to some idealized graphical structure are well developed. The equilibrium properties of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model, which has a densely connected structure, have become well understood. Many features generalize to sparse Erdos-Renyi graph structures above the percolation threshold, and to Bethe lattices when appropriate boundary conditions apply. In this paper we consider spin states subject to a combination of sparse strong interactions with weak dense interactions, which we term a composite model.…
Taking into account the long-ranged spin interactions due to weak localization effects in disordered itinerant ferromagnets the scattering of both electrons and neutrons on critical spin fluctuations near quantum phase transition is considered. It is shown that for the case of low electron density, when k_F ξ\ll 1, where k_F is the Fermi momentum and ξis the magnetic correlation length, the transport cross section of electrons is proportional to conventional critical fluctuations in absence of weak localization effects. However, the intensity of the multiple small-angle neutron scattering beco…
We theoretically investigate impurity correlation and magnetic clustering effects on the long-range ferromagnetic ordering in diluted magnetic semiconductors, such as $\textrm{Ga}_{1-x}\textrm{Mn}_{x}\textrm{As}$, using analytical arguments and direct Monte Carlo simulations. We obtain an analytic formula for the ferromagnetic transition temperature $T_{c}$ which becomes asymptotically exact in the strongly disordered, highly dilute (i.e. small $x$) regime. We establish that impurity correlations have only small effects on $T_{c}$ with the neutrally correlated random disorder producing the nom…
Using Monte Carlo simulations, we compute the spin stiffness of a site-random 3d Heisenberg model with competing ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions. Our results for the pure limit yield values of the the critical temperature and the critical exponent $ν$ in excellent agreement with previous high precision studies. In the disordered case, a mixed "chiral" phase is found which may be in the same universality class as 3d Heisenberg spin glasses.
In this work, we consider a two-dimensional square lattice of pinned magnetic spins with nearest-neighbour interactions and we randomly replace a fixed proportion of spins with nonmagnetic defects carrying no spin. We focus on the linear spin-wave regime and address the propagation of a spin-wave excitation with initial momentum $k_0$. We compute the disorder-averaged momentum distribution obtained at time $t$ and show that the system exhibits two regimes. At low defect density, typical disorder configurations only involve a single percolating magnetic cluster interspersed with single defects …
The resistivity of disordered metallic layer sandwiched by two ferromagnetic layers at low-temperature is investigated theoretically. It is shown that the magnetic field acting at the interface does not affect the classical Boltzmann resistivity but causes a dephasing among electrons in the presence of the spin-orbit interaction, suppressing the anti-localization due to the spin-orbit interaction. The dephasing turns out to be stronger in the case where the magnetization of the two layers is parallel, contributing to a positive magnetoresistance close to a switching field at low temperature.
We analyze low field hysteresis close to the demagnetized state in disordered ferromagnets using the zero temperature random-field Ising model. We solve the demagnetization process exactly in one dimension and derive the Rayleigh law of hysteresis. The initial susceptibility a and the hysteretic coefficient b display a peak as a function of the disorder width. This behavior is confirmed by numerical simulations d=2,3 showing that in limit of weak disorder demagnetization is not possible and the Rayleigh law is not defined. These results are in agreement with experimental observations on nanocr…
After reviewing the basics of the cavity method in classical systems, we show how its quantum version, with some appropriate approximation scheme, can be used to study a system of spins with random ferromagnetic interactions and a random transverse field. The quantum cavity equations describing the ferromagnetic-paramagnetic phase transition can be transformed into the well-known problem of a classical directed polymer in a random medium. The glass transition of this polymer problem translates ino the existence of a `Griffith phase' close to the quantum phase transition of the quantum spin pro…
In structurally disordered ferromagnets the weak random dipole-dipole exchange may transform the polydomain state into a spin-glass one. To some extent the properties of such phase in disordered isotropic ferromagnet can be qualitatively described by the spherical model with the short-range ferromagnetic interaction and weak frustrated infinite-range random-bond exchange. This model is shown to predict that spin-glass phase substitute the ferromagnetic one at the arbitrary small disorder strength and that its thermodynamics has some similarity to that of polydomain state along with some signif…
We investigate the effects of quenched bond randomness on the critical properties of the two-dimensional ferromagnetic Ising model embedded in a triangular lattice. The system is studied in both the pure and disordered versions by the same efficient two-stage Wang-Landau method. In the first part of our study we present the finite-size scaling behavior of the pure model, for which we calculate the critical amplitude of the specific heat's logarithmic expansion. For the disordered system, the numerical data and the relevant detailed finite-size scaling analysis along the lines of the two well-k…
For the three-dimensional random Ising model, the effective sextic coupling constant v_6 and the nonlinear susceptibilities of the fourth (chi_4) and sixth (chi_6) orders are calculated at criticality. These quantities are shown to differ markedly from their counterparts for pure uniaxial magnets. In particular, the ratio v_6/v_{4}^2 entering the equation of state of the random Ising model turns out to be equal to 0.87, while in pure magnets v_6/v_{4}^2 = 1.65. The universal susceptibility ratios m^3 chi_4/chi^2 and m^6 chi_6/chi^3 (m - the inverse correlation length) are found to differ by fa…
Starting from the hamiltonian for the Heisenberg ferromagnet which comprise randomly distributed nonmagnetic ions as impurities in a Bravais lattice, we express the spin operators by means of the Dyson-Maleev transformation in terms of the Bose operators of the second quantization. Then by using methods of quantum statistical field theory, we derive the partition function and the free energy for the system. We adopt the Matsubara thermal perturbation method to a portion of the hamiltonian which describes the interaction between magnons and the stationary field of nonmagnetic ions. Upon averagi…
We present experimental data and a theoretical interpretation on the conductance near the metal-insulator transition in thin ferromagnetic Gd films of thickness b approximately 2-10 nm. A large phase relaxation rate caused by scattering of quasiparticles off spin wave excitations renders the dephasing length L_phi < b in the range of sheet resistances considered, so that the effective dimension is d = 3. The observed approximate fractional temperature power law of the conductivity is ascribed to the scaling regime near the transition. The conductivity data as a function of temperature and diso…
We propose and study a renormalization group transformation that can be used also for models with strong quenched disorder, like spin glasses. The method is based on a mapping between disorder distributions, chosen such as to keep some physical properties (e.g., the ratio of correlations averaged over the ensemble) invariant under the transformation. We validate this ensemble renormalization group by applying it to the hierarchical model (both the diluted ferromagnetic version and the spin glass version), finding results in agreement with Monte Carlo simulations.
The mechanism of appearance of exponentially large number of metastable states in magnetic phases of disordered Ising magnets with short-range random exchange is suggested. It is based on the assumption that transitions into inhomogeneous magnetic phases results from the condensation of macroscopically large number of sparse delocalized modes near the localization threshold. The properties of metastable states in random magnets with zero ground state magnetization (dilute antiferromagnet, binary spin glass, dilute ferromagnet with dipole interaction) has been obtained in framework of this mech…
We consider the complexity of random ferromagnetic landscapes on the hypercube $\{\pm 1\}^N$ given by Ising models on the complete graph with i.i.d. non-negative edge-weights. This includes, in particular, the case of Bernoulli disorder corresponding to the Ising model on a dense random graph $\mathcal G(N,p)$. Previous results had shown that, with high probability as $N\to\infty$, the gradient search (energy-lowering) algorithm, initialized uniformly at random, converges to one of the homogeneous global minima (all-plus or all-minus). Here, we devise two modified algorithms tailored to explor…
We show that Barkhausen noise in two-dimensional disordered ferromagnets with extended domain walls is characterized by the avalanche size exponent $τ_s =1.54$ at low disorder. With increasing disorder the characteristic domain size is reduced relative to the system size due to nucleation of new domains and a dynamic phase transition occurs to the scaling behavior with $τ_s=1.30$. The exponents decrease at finite driving rate. The results agree with recently observed behavior in amorphous Metglas and Fe-Co-B ribbons when the applied anisotropic stress is varied.
The competition between spin glass, ferromagnetism and Kondo effect is analysed here in a Kondo lattice model with an inter-site random coupling $J_{ij}$ between the localized magnetic moments given by a generalization of the Mattis model which represents an interpolation between ferromagnetism and a highly disordered spin glass. Functional integral techniques with Grassmann fields have been used to obtain the partition function. The static approximation and the replica symmetric ansatz have also been used. The solution of the problem is presented as a phase diagram giving $T/{J}$ {\it versus}…
We consider ferromagnetism in spatially randomly located magnetic moments, as in a diluted magnetic semiconductor, coupled via the carrier-mediated indirect exchange RKKY interaction. We obtain via Monte Carlo the magnetic phase diagram as a function of the impurity moment density $n_{i}$ and the relative carrier concentration $n_{c}/n_{i}$. As evidenced by the diverging correlation length and magnetic susceptibility, the boundary between ferromagnetic (FM) and non-ferromagnetic (NF) phases constitutes a line of zero temperature critical points which can be viewed as a magnetic percolation tra…
A convenient way to study phase transitions of finite spins systems of linear size $L$ is to fix boundary conditions that impose the presence of a system-size interface. In this paper, we study the statistical properties of such an interface in a disordered Potts ferromagnet in dimension $d=2$ within Migdal-Kadanoff real space renormalization. We first focus on the interface free-energy and energy to measure the singularities of the average and random contributions, as well as the corresponding histograms, both in the low-temperature phase and at criticality. We then consider the critical beha…
We consider the Anomalous Hall Effect (AHE) in thin disordered ferromagnetic films. Using a microscopic model of electrons in a random potential of identical impurities including spin-orbit coupling, we develop a general formulation for strong, finite range impurity scattering. Explicit calculations are done within a short range but strong impurity scattering to obtain AH conductivities for both the skew scattering and side jump mechanisms. We also evaluate quantum corrections due to interactions and weak localization effects. We show that for arbitrary strength of the impurity scattering, the…
We find a non-perturbative saddle-point solution for the non-linear sigma model proposed by Finkelstein for interacting and disordered electronic systems. Spin rotation symmetry, present in the original saddle point solution, is spontaneously broken at one-loop, as in the Coleman-Weinberg mechanism. The new solution is singular in both the disorder and triplet interaction strengths, and it also explicitly demonstrates that a non-trivial ferromagnetic state appears in a theory where the disorder average is carried out from the outset.
We present a new field theoretic approach for finite dimensional site disordered spin systems by introducing the notion of grand canonical disorder, where the number of spins in the system is random but quenched. We analyze this field theory using the variational replica formalism. For a variety of interactions we find a spin glass phase (with continuous replica symmetry breaking) and explicitly discuss a three dimensional system where this occurs. This approximation also suggests that any ferromagnetic transition occur within the spin glass phase.
In this paper we study the phase diagram of the disordered Ising ferromagnet. Within the framework of the Gaussian variational approximation it is shown that in systems with a finite value of the disorder in dimensions D=4 and D < 4 the paramagnetic and ferromagnetic phases are separated by a spin-glass phase. The transition from paramagnetic to spin-glass state is continuous (second-order), while the transition between spin-glass and ferromagnetic states is discontinuous (first-order). It is also shown that within the considered approximation there is no replica symmetry breaking in the spin-…
We compute the magnetic susceptibilities of interacting electrons in the presence of disorder on a two-dimensional square lattice by means of quantum Monte Carlo simulations. Clear evidence is found that at sufficiently low temperatures disorder can lead to an enhancement of the ferromagnetic susceptibility. We show that it is not related to the transition from a metal to an Anderson insulator in two dimensions, but is a rather general low temperature property of interacting, disordered electronic systems.
We study the magnetic properties of two types of one dimensional XX spin 1/2 chains. The first type has only nearest neighbor interactions which can be either antiferromagnetic or ferromagnetic and the second type which has both nearest neighbor and next nearest neighbor interactions, but only antiferromagnetic in character. We study these systems in the presence of low transverse magnetic fields both analytically and numerically. Comparison of results show a close relation between the two systems, which is in agreement with results previously found in Heisenberg chains by means of a numerical…
We show that the resistivity rho(T) of disordered ferromagnets near, and above, the Curie temperature T_c generically exhibits a stronger anomaly than the scaling-based Fisher-Langer prediction. Treating transport beyond the Boltzmann description, we find that within mean-field theory, dρ/dT exhibits a |T-T_c|^{-1/2} singularity near T_c. Our results, being solely due to impurities, are relevant to ferromagnets with low T_c, such as SrRuO3 or diluted magnetic semiconductors, whose mobility near T_c is limited by disorder.
An ensemble of 2d disordered clusters with a few electrons is studied as a function of the Coulomb energy to kinetic energy ratio r_s. Between the Fermi system (small r_s) and the Wigner molecule (large r_s), an interaction induced delocalization of the ground state takes place which is suppressed when the spins are aligned by a parallel magnetic field. Our results confirm the existence of an intermediate regime where the Wigner antiferromagnetism defavors the Stoner ferromagnetism and where the enhancement of the Lande g factor observed in dilute electron systems is reproduced.
We consider a two-dimensional Ising model with random i.i.d. nearest-neighbor ferromagnetic couplings and no external magnetic field. We show that, if the probability of supercritical couplings is small enough, the system admits a convergent cluster expansion with probability one. The associated polymers are defined on a sequence of increasing scales; in particular the convergence of the above expansion implies the infinite differentiability of the free energy but not its analyticity. The basic tools in the proof are a general theory of graded cluster expansions and a stochastic domination of …
