We study the distribution of equilibrium avalanches (shocks) in Ising spin glasses which occur at zero temperature upon small changes in the magnetic field. For the infinite-range Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model we present a detailed derivation of the density rho(Delta M) of the magnetization jumps Delta M. It is obtained by introducing a multi-component generalization of the Parisi-Duplantier equation, which allows us to compute all cumulants of the magnetization. We find that rho(Delta M) ~ (Delta M)^(-tau) with an avalanche exponent tau=1 for the SK model, originating from the marginal stability (criticality) of the model. It holds for jumps of size 1 << Delta M < N^(1/2) being provoked by changes of the external field by delta H = O(N^[-1/2]) where N is the total number of spins. Our general formula also suggests that the density of overlap q between initial and final state in an avalanche is rho(q) ~ 1/(1-q). These results show interesting similarities with numerical simulations for the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of the SK model. For finite-range models, using droplet arguments, we obtain the prediction tau= (d_f + theta)/d_m, where d_f,d_m and theta are the fractal dimension, magnetization exponent and energy exponent of a droplet, respectively. This formula is expected to apply to other glassy disordered systems, such as the random-field model and pinned interfaces. We make suggestions for further numerical investigations, as well as experimental studies of the Barkhausen noise in spin glasses.
We study the zero-temperature relaxation dynamics of an electron glass model with single-electron hops. We find numerically that in the charge rearrangements (avalanches) triggered by displacing an electron, the number of electron hops has a scale-free, power-law distribution up to a cutoff diverging with the system size $N$, independently of the disorder strength and provided hops of arbitrary length are allowed. In avalanches triggered by the injection of an extra electron, the distribution does not have a power-law limit, but its mean diverges non-trivially with $N$. In both cases, the aval…
We study avalanches along the hysteresis loop of long-range interacting spin-glasses with continuous XY-symmetry - which serves as a toy model of granular superconductors with long-range and frustrated Josephson couplings. We identify sudden jumps in the $T=0$ configurations of the XY-phases, as an external field is increased. They are initiated by the softest mode of the inverse susceptibility matrix becoming unstable, which induces an avalanche of phase updates (or spin alignments). We analyze the statistics of these events, and study the correlation between the non-linear avalanches and the…
We obtain a general formula for the distribution of sizes of "static avalanches", or shocks, in generic mean-field glasses with replica-symmetry-breaking saddle points. For the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick (SK) spin-glass it yields the density rho(S) of the sizes of magnetization jumps S along the equilibrium magnetization curve at zero temperature. Continuous replica-symmetry breaking allows for a power-law behavior rho(S) ~ 1/(S)^tau with exponent tau=1 for SK, related to the criticality (marginal stability) of the spin-glass phase. All scales of the ultrametric phase space are implicated in jump…
In this chapter, we discuss avalanches in glasses and disordered systems, and the macroscopic dynamical behavior that they mediate. We briefly review three classes of systems where avalanches are observed: depinning transition of disordered interfaces, yielding of amorphous materials, and the jamming transition. Without extensive formalism, we discuss results gleaned from theoretical approaches -- mean-field theory, scaling and exponent relations, the renormalization group, and a few results from replica theory. We focus both on the remarkably sophisticated physics of avalanches and on relativ…
We probe the droplet excitations in short range spin glasses by adding a perturbative long range interaction that decays with distance as a power law: $J/r^σ$. It is shown that if the power law exponent $σ$ is smaller than the spatial dimension $d$, the perturbation induces large scale avalanches which roll until they force the system to develop a pseudo gap in the excitation spectrum of the stabilities. This makes the perturbative long range interactions relevant for $σ< σ_c = d$. The droplet theory predicts that the critical exponent $σ_c$ depends on the droplet stiffness exponent as $σ_c=d-…
We find that some equilibrium systems and their non-equilibrium counterparts actually show the same jerky response or avalanche behavior on many scales in response to slowly changing external conditions. In other words, their static and dynamic avalanches behave statistically the same. This suggests that their critical properties are much more generally applicable than previously assumed. In this case, systems far from equilibrium may be used to predict equilibrium critical behavior, and vice versa.
We explore the stability of far-from-equilibrium metastable states of a three-dimensional Coulomb glass at zero temperature by studying charge avalanches triggered by a slowly varying external electric field. Surprisingly, we identify a sharply defined dynamical ("depinning") phase transition from stationary to nonstationary charge displacement at a critical value of the external electric field. Using particle-conserving dynamics, scale-free system-spanning avalanches are observed only at the critical field. We show that the qualitative features of this depinning transition are completely diff…
Spin-glass and chiral-glass orderings in three-dimensional Heisenberg spin glasses are studied both by equilibrium and off-equilibrium Monte Carlo simulations. Fully isotropic model is found to exhibit a finite-temperature chiral-glass transition without the conventional spin-glass order. Although chirality is an Ising-like quantity from symmetry, universality class of the chiral-glass transition appears to be different from that of the standard Ising spin glass. In the off-equilibrium simulation, while the spin autocorrelation exhibits only an interrupted aging, the chirality autocorrelation …
This thesis pretends to be another step in the development of numerical research in disordered systems. Specifically, we will focus on spin glasses which have demonstrated to be a fertile field from both, experimental and theoretical approaches. Throughout this thesis, we will discuss a variety of interesting phenomenons and we will also open new avenues to previously unexplored effects in the context of spin glasses. However, without a doubt, the leitmotiv conducting this thesis is the role of numerical simulations as a valuable tool to explore spin-glass physics. This thesis is organized int…
We derive and study dynamical TAP equations for Ising spin glasses obeying both synchronous and asynchronous dynamics using a generating functional approach. The system can have an asymmetric coupling matrix, and the external fields can be time-dependent. In the synchronously updated model, the TAP equations take the form of self consistent equations for magnetizations at time $t+1$, given the magnetizations at time $t$. In the asynchronously updated model, the TAP equations determine the time derivatives of the magnetizations at each time, again via self consistent equations, given the curren…
With respect to usual thermal ferromagnetic transitions, the zero-temperature finite-disorder critical point of the Random-field Ising model (RFIM) has the peculiarity to involve some 'droplet' exponent $θ$ that enters the generalized hyperscaling relation $2-α= ν(d-θ)$. In the present paper, to better understand the meaning of this droplet exponent $θ$ beyond its role in the thermodynamics, we discuss the statistics of low-energy excitations generated by an imposed single spin-flip with respect to the ground state, as well as the statistics of equilibrium avalanches i.e. the magnetization jum…
A microscopic theory for equilibrium and non equilibrium relaxations in structural glasses is formulated. For all temperatures below the glass transition the dynamics can be asymptotically separated in a $β$ - relaxation regime, which connects a quasi equilibrium with the aging regime and the aging regime. In the $β$ - relaxation regime dynamic correlation are independent from spatial correlations. This is due to a self organized critical bifurcation scenario, which gives rise to one dynamic power law and a logarithmic law. It is shown that the fluctuation dissipation ratio in the aging regime…
We study the effects of small temperature as well as disorder perturbations on the equilibrium state of three-dimensional Ising spin glasses via an alternate scaling ansatz. By using Monte Carlo simulations, we show that temperature and disorder perturbations yield chaotic changes in the equilibrium state and that temperature chaos is considerably harder to observe than disorder chaos.
We show that at short time aging is realized in a simple model of binary glasses. We find that below the transition point the off-equilibrium correlation functions and response functions are compatible with the relations that were originally derived Cugliandolo Kurchan for generalized spin glasses.
Despite the extreme simplicity in their definition, spin glasses disclose a wide variety of non-trivial behaviors that are not yet fully understood. In this thesis we try to shed light on some of them, focusing on one hand on the search of phase transitions under perturbations of the Hamiltonian, and on the other hand on the zero-temperature properties and responses to external stimuli. After introducing spin glasses through a historiographical review, and useful concepts on phase transitions and numerics, the results of two massive Monte Carlo campaigns on three-dimensional systems are shown.…
The correlations of the free-energy landscape of mean-field spin glasses at different temperatures are investigated, concentrating on models with a first order freezing transition. Using a ``potential function'' we follow the metastable states of the model in temperature, and discuss the possibility of level crossing (which we do not find) and multifurcation (which we find). The dynamics at a given temperature starting from an equilibrium configuration at a different temperature is also discussed. In presence of multifurcation, we find that the equilibrium is never achieved, leading to aging b…
We introduce a three replica potential useful to examine the structure of metastables states above the static transition temperature, in the spherical p-spin model. Studying the minima of the potential we are able to find which is the distance between the nearest equilibrium and local equilibrium states, obtaining in this way information on the dynamics of the system. Furthermore, the analysis of the potential at the dynamical transition temperature suggests that equilibrium states are not randomly distributed in the phase space.
Starting from the second law of thermodynamics applied to an isolated system consisting of the system surrounded by an extremely large medium, we formulate a general non-equilibrium thermodynamic description of the system when it is out of equilibrium. We then apply it to study the structural relaxation in glasses and establish the phenomenology behind the concept of the fictive temperature and of the empirical Tool-Narayanaswamy equation on firmer theoretical foundation.
In a Comment (cond-mat/0103444) on our recent paper "Two time scales and violation of FDT in a finite dimensional model for structural glasses" [1], A. de Candia and A. Coniglio show evidence that the equilibrium overlap distribution P(q) of the frustrated Ising lattice gas (FILG) does not coincide with the one that could be estimated from the off-equilibrium results presented in [1]. In this Reply we show new results on the glassy phase of the FILG that clarify the controversy. Nevertheless, the structure of the equilibrium P(q) remains an open problem. [1] F. Ricci-Tersenghi, D. A. Stariolo …
We study the applications of non-equilibrium relations such as the Jarzynski equality and fluctuation theorem to spin glasses with gauge symmetry. It is shown that the exponentiated free-energy difference appearing in the Jarzynski equality reduces to a simple analytic function written explicitly in terms of the initial and final temperatures if the temperature satisfies a certain condition related to gauge symmetry. This result is used to derive a lower bound on the work done during the non-equilibrium process of temperature change. We also prove identities relating equilibrium and non-equili…
Spin glasses are frustrated magnetic systems due to a random distribution of ferro- and antiferromagnetic interactions. An experimental three dimensional (3d) spin glass exhibits a second order phase transition to a low temperature spin glass phase regardless of the spin dimensionality. In addition, the low temperature phase of Ising and Heisenberg spin glasses exhibits similar non-equilibrium dynamics and an infinitely slow approach towards a thermodynamic equilibrium state. There are however significant differences in the detailed character of the dynamics as to memory and rejuvenation pheno…
We review recent findings on spin glass models. Both the equilibrium properties and the dynamic properties are covered. We focus on progress in theoretical, in particular numerical, studies, while its relationship to real magnetic materials is also mentioned.
A formally exact set of equations is derived for the description of nonequilibrium phenomena in classical liquids and glasses. With the help of a non equilibrium projection operator formalism, the correlation functions and fluctuation propagators are expressed in terms of memory functions and time dependent collective frequencies. This formally exact set of equations is approximated by applying mode coupling approximations to the memory functions. The resulting set of equations for wavevector dependent correlation functions, fluctuation propagators and one-time structure factors $S_q(t)$ gener…
We review the inherent structure thermodynamical formalism and the formulation of an equation of state for liquids in equilibrium based on the (volume) derivatives of the statistical properties of the potential energy surface. We also show that, under the hypothesis that during aging the system explores states associated to equilibrium configurations, it is possible to generalize the proposed equation of state to out-of-equilibrium conditions. The proposed formulation is based on the introduction of one additional parameter which, in the chosen thermodynamic formalism, can be chosen as the loc…
The standard model of glasses is an ensemble of two-level systems interacting with a thermal bath. The general origin of memory effects in this model is a quasi-stationary but non-equilibrium state of a single two-level system, which is realized due to a finite-rate cooling and very slow thermally activated relaxation. We show that single particle memory effects, such as negativity of the specific heat under reheating, vanish for a sufficiently disordered ensemble. In contrast, a disordered ensemble displays a collective memory effect [similar to that described by Kovacs for glassy polymers], …
Statistical Gauge Theory of Structural Glasses: Equilibrium Scenarios and Glass-Forming Ability
IMET UB RAS（俄罗斯科学院乌拉尔分院金属物理研究所）；Ural Federal University（乌拉尔联邦大学）；HPPI（高温等离子体物理研究所）；N. L. Dukhov Research Institute of Automatics (VNIIA)（N.L.杜霍夫自动技术研究院）
We use the general statement of the second law applied to an isolated system, the glass in an extremely large medium, to prove that the entropy of the glass must decrease with time during its relaxation towards the supercooled liquid state. This result contradicts the claim of Mauro et al and their computational result of the entropy, according to which their entropy of the glass increases. Our approach using the isolated system completely bypasses the issue of ergodicity loss in glasses, as discussed in the comment.
We study analytically and numerically the statics and the off-equilibrium dynamics of spin models over finitely connected random graphs. We identify a threshold value for the connectivity beyond which the loop structure of the graph becomes thermodynamically relevant. Glauber dynamics simulations show that this loop structure is responsible for the onset of dynamical features of a local character (dynamical heterogeneities and spontaneous time scale separation), consistently with previous (experimental and numerical) studies of glasses and spin glasses in their approach to the low temperature …
The critical dynamics of Ising spin glasses with Bimodal, Gaussian, and Laplacian interaction distributions are studied numerically in dimensions 3 and 4. The data demonstrate that in both dimensions the critical dynamic exponent $z_{\rm c}$, the non-equilibrium autocorrelation decay exponent $λ_c/z_{\rm c}$, and the critical fluctuation-dissipation ratio $X_{\infty}$ all vary strongly and systematically with the form of the interaction distribution.
The problem of the survival of a spin glass phase in the presence of a field has been a challenging one for a long time. To date, all attempts using equilibrium Monte Carlo methods have been unconclusive. In their comment to our paper, Marinari, Parisi and Zuliani use out-of-equilibrium measurements to test for an Almeida-Thouless line. In our view such a dynamic approach is not based on very solid foundations in finite dimensional systems and so cannot be as compelling as equilibrium approaches. Nevertheless, the results of those authors suggests that there is a critical field near B=0.4 at z…
We have studied numerically the dynamics of spin glasses with Ising and XY symmetry (gauge glass) in space dimensions 2, 3, and 4. The nonequilibrium spin-glass susceptibility and the nonequilibrium energy per spin of samples of large size L_b are measured as a function of anneal time t_w after a quench to temperatures T. The two observables are compared to the equilibrium spin-glass susceptibility and the equilibrium energy, respectively, measured as functions of temperature T and system size L for a range of system sizes. For any time and temperature a nonequilibrium time-dependent length sc…
We study the violation of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem in the three and four dimensional Gaussian Ising spin glasses using on and off equilibrium simulations. We have characterized numerically the function X(C) that determine the violation and we have studied its scaling properties. Moreover we have computed the function x(C) which characterize the breaking of the replica symmetry directly from equilibrium simulations. The two functions are numerically equal and in this way we have established that the conjectured connection between the violation of fluctuation dissipation theorem in th…
Motivated by recent experiments on the finite temperature Mott transition in VO2 films, we propose a classical coarse-grained dielectric breakdown model where each degree of freedom represents a nanograin which transitions from insulator to metal with increasing temperature and voltage at random thresholds due to quenched disorder. We describe the properties of the resulting non-equilibrium metal-insulator transition and explain the universal characteristics of the resistance jump distribution. We predict that by tuning voltage, another critical point is approached, which separates a phase of …
We study the classical 1D Heisenberg spin glasses. Based on the Hamilton equations we obtained the system of recurrence equations which allows to perform node-by-node calculations of a spin-chain. It is shown that calculations from first principles of classical mechanics lead to NP hard problem, that however in the limit of the statistical equilibrium can be calculated by P algorithm. For the partition function of the ensemble a new representation is offered in the form of one-dimensional integral of spin-chains' energy distribution.
Large numbers of ground states of 3d EA Ising spin glasses are calculated for sizes up to 10^3 using a combination of a genetic algorithm and Cluster-Exact Approximation. A detailed analysis shows that true ground states are obtained. The ground state stiffness (or domain wall) energy D is calculated. A D ~ L^t behavior with t=0.19(2) is found which strongly indicates that the 3d model has an equilibrium spin-glass-paramagnet transition for non-zero T_c.
We study the long time dynamics of quantum spin glasses of rotors using the non-equilibrium Schwinger-Keldysh formalism. These models are known to have a quantum phase transition from a paramagnetic to a spin glass phase, which we approach by looking at the divergence of the spin relaxation rate at the transition point. In the aging regime, we determine the dynamical equations governing the time evolution of the spin response and correlation functions, and show that all terms in the equations that arise solely from quantum effects are irrelevant at long times under time reparametrization group…
In talk I will review the theoretical results that have been obtained for spin glasses, paying a particular attention to finite dimensional spin glasses. I will concentrate my attention on the formulation of the mean field approach and on its numerical and experimental verifications. I will mainly considered equilibrium properties at zero magnetic field, where the situation is clear and it should be not controversial. I will present the various hypothesis at the basis of the theory and I will discuss their physical status.
The equation of state for a liquid in equilibrium, written in the potential energy landscape formalism, is generalized to describe out-of-equilibrium conditions. The hypothesis that during aging the system explores basins associated to equilibrium configurations is the key ingredient in the derivation. Theoretical predictions are successfully compared with data from molecular dynamics simulations of different aging processes, such as temperature and pressure jumps.
Using ground state computations, we study the transition from a spin glass to a ferromagnet in 3-d spin glasses when changing the mean value of the spin-spin interaction. We find good evidence for replica symmetry breaking up till the critical value where ferromagnetic ordering sets in, and no ferromagnetic spin glass phase. This phase diagram is in conflict with the droplet/scaling and mean field theories of spin glasses. We also find that the exponents of the second order ferromagnetic transition do not depend on the microscopic Hamiltonian, suggesting universality of this transition.
Spin-glass and chiral-glass orderings in three-dimensional Heisenberg spin glasses are studied with and without randaom magnetic anisotropy by dynamical Monte Carlo simulations. In isotropic case, clear evidence of a finite-temperature chiral-glass transition is presented. While the spin autocorrelation exhibits only an interrupted aging, the chirality autocorrelation persists to exhibit a pronounced aging effect reminisecnt of the one observed in the mean-field model. In anisotropic case, asymptotic mixing of the spin and the chirality is observed in the off-equilibrium dynamics.
Spin glasses are notoriously difficult to study both analytically and numerically due to the presence of frustration and metastability. Their highly non-convex landscapes require collective updates to explore efficiently. Currently, most state-of-the-art algorithms rely on stochastic spin clusters to perform non-local updates, but such "cluster algorithms" lack general efficiency. Here, we introduce a non-equilibrium approach for simulating spin glasses based on classical dynamics with memory. By simulating various classes of 3d spin glasses (Edwards-Anderson, partially-frustrated, and fully-f…
Ground states of four-dimensional (d=4) EA Ising spin glasses are calculated for sizes up to 7x7x7x7 using a combination of a genetic algorithm and cluster-exact approximation. The ground-state energy of the infinite system is extrapolated as e_0=-2.095(1). The ground-state stiffness (or domain wall) energy D is calculated. A D~L^Θ behavior with Θ=0.65(4) is found which confirms that the d=4 model has an equilibrium spin-glass-paramagnet transition for non-zero T_c.
connected spin-glass models with a discontinuous transition. In the thermodynamic limit the equilibrium properties in the high temperature phase are described by the schematic Mode Coupling Theory of super-cooled liquids. We show that {\it finite-size} fully connected spin-glass models do exhibit properties typical of Lennard-Jones systems when both are near the critical glass transition, where thermodynamics is ruled by energy minima distribution. Our study opens the way to consider activated processes in real glasses through finite-size corrections (i.e. calculations beyond the saddle point …
Non-equilibrium dynamics of three dimensional model spin glasses - the Ising system Fe$_{0.50}$Mn$_{0.50}$TiO$_3$ and the Heisenberg like system Ag(11 at% Mn) - has been investigated by measurements of the isothermal time decay of the low frequency ac-susceptibility after a quench from the paramagnetic to the spin glass phase. It is found that the relaxation data measured at different temperatures can be scaled according to predictions from the droplet scaling model, provided that critical fluctuations are accounted for in the analyzes.
We study numerically the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of interfaces at finite temperatures when driven well below the zero-temperature depinning threshold. We go further than previous analysis by including the most relevant non-equilibrium correction to the elastic Hamiltonian. We find that the relaxation dynamics towards the steady-state shows glassy behavior, aging and violation of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. The interface roughness exponent alpha approx 0.7 is found to be robust to temperature changes. We also study the instantaneous velocity signal in the low temperature regime and…
We present a high statistic systematic study of the overlap correlation function well below the critical temperature in the three dimensional Gaussian spin glass. The off-equilibrium correlation function has been studied confirming the power law behavior for the dynamical correlation length. In particular we have computed the dynamical critical exponent $z$ in a wide range of temperatures, $0.35 \le T \le 0.9$, obtaining a dependence $z(T)=6.2/T$ in a very good agreement with recent experiments. Moreover, we report a study of the violation of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem for very low te…
Spanning avalanches in the 3D Gaussian Random Field Ising Model (3D-GRFIM) with metastable dynamics at T=0 have been studied. Statistical analysis of the field values for which avalanches occur has enabled a Finite-Size Scaling (FSS) study of the avalanche density to be performed. Furthermore, direct measurement of the geometrical properties of the avalanches has confirmed an earlier hypothesis that several kinds of spanning avalanches with two different fractal dimensions coexist at the critical point. We finally compare the phase diagram of the 3D-GRFIM with metastable dynamics with the same…
We study the non-equilibrium behavior of three-dimensional spin glasses in the Migdal-Kadanoff approximation, that is on a hierarchical lattice. In this approximation the model has an unique ground state and equilibrium properties correctly described by the droplet model. Extensive numerical simulations show that this model lacks aging in the remanent magnetization as well as a maximum in the magnetic viscosity in disagreement with experiments as well as with numerical studies of the Edwards-Anderson model. This result strongly limits the validity of the droplet model (at least in its simplest…
In this work, we address the question of how a closed quantum system thermalises in the presence of a random external potential. By investigating the quench dynamics of the isolated quantum spherical $p$-spin model, a paradigmatic model of a mean-field glass, we aim to shed new light on this complex problem. Employing a closed-time Schwinger-Keldysh path integral formalism, we first initialise the system in a random, infinite-temperature configuration and allow it to equilibrate in contact with a thermal bath before switching off the bath and performing a quench. We find evidence that increasi…
We review recent theoretical progress on glassy dynamics, with special emphasis on the importance and universality of the ``aging regime'', which is relevant to many experimental situations. The three main subjects which we address are: (i) Phenomenological models of aging (coarsening, trap models), (ii) Analytical results for the low-temperature dynamics of mean-field models (corresponding to the mode-coupling equations); and (iii) Simple non-disordered models with glassy dynamics. We discuss the interrelation between these approaches, and also with previous work in the field. Several open pr…
We present a many body approach for non-equilibrium behavior and self-generated glassiness in strongly correlated quantum systems. It combines the dynamical mean field theory of equilibrium systems with the replica theory for classical glasses without quenched disorder. We apply this approach to study a quantized version of the Brazovskii model and find a self-generated quantum glass that remains in a quantum mechanically mixed state as T -> 0. This quantum glass is formed by a large number of competing states spread over an energy region which is determined within our theory.
The non-equilibrium dynamics of the three-dimensional Edwards-Anderson spin-glass model with different bond distributions is investigated by means of Monte Carlo simulation. A numerical method is used to determine the critical temperature and the scaling exponents of the correlation and the integrated response functions. The results obtained agree with those calculated in equilibrium simulations and suggest that the universality class does not depend on the exact form of the bond distribution.
We use a non-equilibrium simulation method to study the spin glass transition in three-dimensional Ising spin glasses. The transition point is repeatedly approached at finite velocity $v$ (temperature change versus time) in Monte Carlo simulations starting at a high temperature. The normally problematic critical slowing-down is not hampering this kind of approach, since the system equilibrates quickly at the initial temperature and the slowing-down is merely reflected in the dynamic scaling of the non-equilibrium order parameter with $v$ and the system size. The equilibrium limit does not have…
We study the non-equilibrium linear response of quantum elastic systems pinned by quenched disorder with Schwinger-Keldysh real-time techniques complemented by a mean-field variational approach. We find (i) a quasi-equilibrium regime in which the analytic continuation from the imaginary-time replica results holds provided the marginality condition is enforced; (ii) an aging regime. The conductivity and compressibility are computed. The latter is found to cross over from its dynamic to static value on a scale set by the waiting time after a quench, an effect which can be probed in experiments i…
