Replica trick with real replicas: A way to build in thermodynamic homogeneity

There is an ambiguity in how to apply the replica trick to spin glass models which have additional order parameters unrelated to spin glass order -- with respect to which quantities does one minimize vs maximize the action, and in what sequence? Here we show that the correct procedure is to first maximize with respect to "replica" order parameters, and then minimize with respect to "conventional" order parameters. With this result, we further elucidate the relationship betwee...

We introduce a hierarchical class of approximations of the random Ising spin glass in $d$ dimensions. The attention is focused on finite clusters of spins where the action of the rest of the system is properly taken into account. At the lower level (cluster of a single spin) our approximation coincides with the SK model while at the highest level it coincides with the true $d$-dimensional system. The method is variational and it uses the replica approach to spin glasses and t...

The mathematically correct computation of the spin glasses free energy in the infinite range limit crowns 25 years of mathematic efforts in solving this model. The exact solution of the model was found many years ago by using a heuristic approach; the results coming from the heuristic approach were crucial in deriving the mathematical results. The mathematical tools used in the rigorous approach are quite different from those of the heuristic approach. In this note we will re...

We prove that the Parisi measure of the mixed p-spin model at zero temperature has infinitely many points in its support. This establishes Parisi's prediction that the functional order parameter of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model is not a step function at zero temperature. As a consequence, we show that the number of levels of broken replica symmetry in the Parisi formula of the free energy diverges as the temperature goes to zero.

We give a proof of the replica symmetric formula for the free energy of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model in high temperature which is based on the TAP formula. This is achieved by showing that the conditional annealed free energy equals the quenched one, where the conditioning is given by an appropriate {\sigma}-field with respect to which the TAP solutions are measurable.

We discuss ergodicity breaking in frustrated disordered systems with no apparent broken symmetry of the Hamiltonian and present a way how to amend it in the low-temperature phase. We demonstrate this phenomenon on mean-field models of spin glasses. We use replicas of the spin variables to test thermodynamic homogeneity of ergodic equilibrium systems. We show that replica-symmetry breaking reflects ergodicity breaking and is used to restore an ergodic state. We then present ex...

By controlling quantum fluctuations via the Falk-Bruch inequality we give the first rigorous argument for the existence of a spin-glass phase in the quantum Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model with a transverse magnetic field if the temperature and the field are sufficiently low. The argument also applies to the generalization of the model with multi-spin interactions, sometimes dubbed as transverse $p$-spin model.

We develop a simple method to study the high temperature, or high external field, behavior of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick mean field spin glass model. The basic idea is to couple two different replicas with a quadratic term, trying to push out the two replica overlap from its replica symmetric value. In the case of zero external field, our results reproduce the well known validity of the annealed approximation, up to the known critical value for the temperature. In the case o...

During the last years, through the combined effort of the insight, coming from physical intuition and computer simulation, and the exploitation of rigorous mathematical methods, the main features of the mean field Sherrington-Kirkpatrick spin glass model have been firmly established. In particular, it has been possible to prove the existence and uniqueness of the infinite volume limit for the free energy, and its Parisi expression, in terms of a variational principle, involvi...

We sketch a new framework for the analysis of disordered systems, in particular mean field spin glasses, which is variational in nature and within the formalism of classical thermodynamics. For concreteness, only the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model is considered here. For this we show how the Parisi solution (replica symmetric, or when replica symmetry is broken) emerges, in large but finite volumes, from a high temperature expansion to second order of the Gibbs potential with ...