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

The free energy landscape of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrik (SK) Ising spin glass is simple in the framework of the Thouless-Anderson-Palmer (TAP) equations as each solution (which are minima of the free energy) has associated with it a nearby index-one saddle point. The free energy barrier to escape the minimum is just the difference between the saddle point free energy and that at its associated minimum. This difference is calculated for the states with free energies $f > f_c$....

In this paper we study the Parisi variational problem for mixed $p$-spin glasses with Ising spins. Our starting point is a characterization of Parisi measures whose origin lies in the first order optimality conditions for the Parisi functional, which is known to be strictly convex. Using this characterization, we study the phase diagram in the temperature-external field plane. We begin by deriving self-consistency conditions for Parisi measures that generalize those of de Alm...

We present a new method to solve the dynamics of disordered spin systems on finite time-scales. It involves a closed driven diffusion equation for the joint spin-field distribution, with time-dependent coefficients described by a dynamical replica theory which, in the case of detailed balance, incorporates equilibrium replica theory as a stationary state. The theory is exact in various limits. We apply our theory to both the symmetric- and the non-symmetric Sherrington-Kirkpa...

The recent proof by F. Guerra that the Parisi ansatz provides a lower bound on the free energy of the SK spin-glass model could have been taken as offering some support to the validity of the purported solution. In this work we present a broader variational principle, in which the lower bound, as well as the actual value, are obtained through an optimization procedure for which ultrametic/hierarchal structures form only a subset of the variational class. The validity of Paris...

From the study of a functional equation of Gibbs measures we calculate the limiting free energy of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick spin glass model at a particular value of (low) temperature. This implies the following lower bound for the ground state energy $\epsilon_0$ \[\epsilon_0\geq -0.7833\cdots,\] close to the replica symmetry breaking and numerical simulations values.

These notes give an introduction to the physics of the infinite range version of the Edwards--Anderson model, the so-called Sherrington--Kirkpatrick model. In a first part, I motivate and introduce the Edwards--Anderson and Sherrington--Kirkpatrick models. In the second part, I explain the analytical solution of the Sherrington--Kirkpatrick model, following Giorgio Parisi. I next give the physical interpretation of this solution. This is a vast subject, and I concentrate on t...

The aim of this paper is to discuss the main ideas of the Talagrand proof of the Parisi Ansatz for the free-energy of Mean Field Spin Glasses with a physicist's approach. We consider the case of the spherical $p$-spin model, which has the following advantages: 1) the Parisi Ansatz takes the simple ``one step replica symmetry breaking form'', 2) the replica free-energy as a function of the order parameters is simple enough to allow for numerical maximization with arbitrary pre...

In the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick mean field model for spin glasses, we show that the quenched average of the free energy can be expressed through a couple of functional order parameters, in a form very similar to the one found in the frame of the replica symmetry breaking method. The functional order parameters are implicitely given in terms of fluctuations of thermodynamic variables. Under the assumption that the two order parameters can be chosen to be the same, in the thermo...

In a region above the Almeida-Thouless line, where we are able to control the thermodynamic limit of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model and to prove replica symmetry, we show that the fluctuations of the overlaps and of the free energy are Gaussian, on the scale N^{-1/2}, for N large. The method we employ is based on the idea, we recently developed, of introducing quadratic coupling between two replicas. The proof makes use of the cavity equations and of concentration of measu...

Francesco Guerra and Fabio Toninelli have developped a very powerful technique to study the high temperature behaviour of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick mean field spin glass model. They show that this model is asymptoticaly comparable to a linear model. The key ingredient is a clever interpolation technique between the two different Hamiltonians describing the models. This paper contribution to the subject are the following: (1) The replica-symmetric solution holds for gene...