The relative influences of disorder and of frustration on the glassy dynamics in magnetic systems

The magnetisation relaxations of three different types of geometrically frustrated magnetic systems have been studied with the same experimental procedures as previously used in spin glasses. The materials investigated are Y$_2$Mo$_2$O$_7$ (pyrochlore system), SrCr$_{8.6}$Ga$_{3.4}$O$_{19}$ (piled pairs of Kagom\'e layers) and (H$_3$O)Fe$_3$(SO$_4$)$_2$(OH)$_6$ (jarosite compound). Despite a very small amount of disorder, all the samples exhibit many characteristic features of spin glass dynamics below a freezing temperature $T_g$, much smaller than their Curie-Weiss temperature $\theta$. The ageing properties of their thermoremanent magnetization can be well accounted for by the same scaling law as in spin glasses, and the values of the scaling exponents are very close. The effects of temperature variations during ageing have been specifically investigated. In the pyrochlore and the bi-Kagom\'e compounds, a decrease of temperature after some waiting period at a certain temperature $T_p$ re-initializes ageing and the evolution at the new temperature is the same as if the system were just quenched from above $T_g$. However, as the temperature is raised back to $T_p$, the sample recovers the state it had previously reached at that temperature. These features are known in spin glasses as rejuvenation and memory effects. They are clear signatures of the spin glass dynamics. In the Kagom\'e compound, there is also some rejuvenation and memory, but much larger temperature changes are needed to observe the effects. In that sense, the behaviour of this compound is quantitatively different from that of spin glasses.Comment: latex VersionCorrigee4.tex, 4 files, 3 figures, 5 pages (Proceedings of the International Conference on Highly Frustrated Magnetism (HFM2003), August 26-30, 2003, Institut Laue Langevin (ILL), Grenoble, France

Extraction of the Spin Glass Correlation Length

The peak of the spin glass relaxation rate, S(t)=d{-M_{TRM}(t,t_w)}/H/{d ln t}, is directly related to the typical value of the free energy barrier which can be explored over experimental time scales. A change in magnetic field H generates an energy E_z={N_s}{X_fc}{H^2} by which the barrier heights are reduced, where X_{fc} is the field cooled susceptibility per spin, and N_s is the number of correlated spins. The shift of the peak of S(t) gives E_z, generating the correlation length, Ksi(t,T), for Cu:Mn 6at.% and CdCr_{1.7}In_{0.3}S_4. Fits to power law dynamics, Ksi(t,T)\propto {t}^{\alpha(T)} and activated dynamics Ksi(t,T) \propto {ln t}^{1/psi} compare well with simulation fits, but possess too small a prefactor for activated dynamics.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Department of Physics, University of California, Riverside, California, and Service de Physique de l'Etat Condense, CEA Saclay, Gif sur Yvette, France. To appear in Phys. Rev. Lett. January 4, 199

Aging in an infinite-range Hamiltonian system of coupled rotators

We analyze numerically the out-of-equilibrium relaxation dynamics of a long-range Hamiltonian system of $N$ fully coupled rotators. For a particular family of initial conditions, this system is known to enter a particular regime in which the dynamic behavior does not agree with thermodynamic predictions. Moreover, there is evidence that in the thermodynamic limit, when $N\to \infty$ is taken prior to $t\to \infty$, the system will never attain true equilibrium. By analyzing the scaling properties of the two-time autocorrelation function we find that, in that regime, a very complex dynamics unfolds in which {\em aging} phenomena appear. The scaling law strongly suggests that the system behaves in a complex way, relaxing towards equilibrium through intricate trajectories. The present results are obtained for conservative dynamics, where there is no thermal bath in contact with the system. This is the first time that aging is observed in such Hamiltonian systems.Comment: Figs. 2-4 modified, minor changes in text. To appear in Phys. Rev.

Aging, rejuvenation and memory effects in Ising and Heisenberg spin glasses

We have compared aging phenomena in the Fe_{0.5}Mn_{0.5}TiO_3 Ising spin glass and in the CdCr_{1.7}In_{0.3}S_4 Heisenberg-like spin glass by means of low-frequency ac susceptibility measurements. At constant temperature, aging obeys the same `$\omega t$ scaling' in both samples as in other systems. Investigating the effect of temperature variations, we find that the Ising sample exhibits rejuvenation and memory effects which are qualitatively similar to those found in other spin glasses, indicating that the existence of these phenomena does not depend on the dimensionality of the spins. However, systematic temperature cycling experiments on both samples show important quantitative differences. In the Ising sample, the contribution of aging at low temperature to aging at a slightly higher temperature is much larger than expected from thermal slowing down. This is at variance with the behaviour observed until now in other spin glasses, which show the opposite trend of a free-energy barrier growth as the temperature is decreased. We discuss these results in terms of a strongly renormalized microscopic attempt time for thermal activation, and estimate the corresponding values of the barrier exponent $\psi$ introduced in the scaling theories.Comment: 8 pages, including 6 figure

On the scaling and ageing behaviour of the alternating susceptibility in spin glasses and local scale-invariance

The frequency-dependent scaling of the dispersive and dissipative parts of the alternating susceptibility is studied for spin glasses at criticality. An extension of the usual $\omega t$-scaling is proposed. Simulational data from the three-dimensional Ising spin glass agree with this new scaling form and moreover reproduce well the scaling functions explicitly calculated for systems satisfying local scale-invariance. There is also a qualitative agreement with existing experimental data.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figures, to appear in special issue of J. Phys. Cond. Matt. dedicated to Lothar Schaefer on the occasion of his 60th birthday, final form with IOP macro

Slow dynamics and aging in spin-glasses

Contribution presented by Eric Vincent in the Conference `Complex Behaviour of Glassy Systems', Sitges, Barcelona, Spain, June, 1996. It contains a review of the experimental results on Slow dynamics and aging in spin-glasses. It also presents their comparison with recent theoretical developments in the description of the out of equilibrium dynamics of disordered systems; namely, the trap model and the mean-field theory.Comment: 35 pages, 12 figures, macro lmamult.sty (included

Nano-particle vaccination combined with TLR-7 and -9 ligands triggers memory and effector CD8⁺ T-cell responses in melanoma patients.

Optimal vaccine strategies must be identified for improving T-cell vaccination against infectious and malignant diseases. MelQbG10 is a virus-like nano-particle loaded with A-type CpG-oligonucleotides (CpG-ODN) and coupled to peptide(16-35) derived from Melan-A/MART-1. In this phase IIa clinical study, four groups of stage III-IV melanoma patients were vaccinated with MelQbG10, given (i) with IFA (Montanide) s.c.; (ii) with IFA s.c. and topical Imiquimod; (iii) i.d. with topical Imiquimod; or (iv) as intralymph node injection. In total, 16/21 (76%) patients generated ex vivo detectable Melan-A/MART-1-specific T-cell responses. T-cell frequencies were significantly higher when IFA was used as adjuvant, resulting in detectable T-cell responses in all (11/11) patients, with predominant generation of effector-memory-phenotype cells. In turn, Imiquimod induced higher proportions of central-memory-phenotype cells and increased percentages of CD127(+) (IL-7R) T cells. Direct injection of MelQbG10 into lymph nodes resulted in lower T-cell frequencies, associated with lower proportions of memory and effector-phenotype T cells. Swelling of vaccine site draining lymph nodes, and increased glucose uptake at PET/CT was observed in 13/15 (87%) of evaluable patients, reflecting vaccine triggered immune reactions in lymph nodes. We conclude that the simultaneous use of both Imiquimod and CpG-ODN induced combined memory and effector CD8(+) T-cell responses

Aging, rejuvenation and memory phenomena in spin glasses

In this paper, we review several important features of the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of spin glasses. Starting with the simplest experiments, we discuss the scaling laws used to describe the isothermal aging observed in spin glasses after a quench down to the low temperature phase. We report in particular new results on the sub-aging behaviour of spin glasses. We then discuss the rejuvenation and memory effects observed when a spin glass is submitted to temperature variations during aging, from the point of view of both energy landscape pictures and of real space pictures. We highlight the fact that both approaches point out the necessity of hierarchical processes involved in aging. Finally, we report an investigation of the effect of small temperature variations on aging in spin glass samples with various anisotropies which indicates that this hierarchy depends on the spin anisotropy.Comment: submitted for the Proceedings of Stat Phys 22, Bangalore (India

Domain growth by isothermal aging in 3d Ising and Heisenberg spin glasses

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.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Growing dynamical length, scaling and heterogeneities in the 3d Edwards-Anderson model

We study numerically spatio-temporal fluctuations during the out-of-equilibrium relaxation of the three-dimensional Edwards-Anderson model. We focus on two issues. (1) The evolution of a growing dynamical length scale in the glassy phase of the model, and the consequent collapse of the distribution of local coarse-grained correlations measured at different pairs of times on a single function using {\it two} scaling parameters, the value of the global correlation at the measuring times and the ratio of the coarse graining length to the dynamical length scale (in the thermodynamic limit). (2) The `triangular' relation between coarse-grained local correlations at three pairs of times taken from the ordered instants $t_3 \leq t_2 \leq t_1$. Property (1) is consistent with the conjecture that the development of time-reparametrization invariance asymptotically is responsible for the main dynamic fluctuations in aging glassy systems as well as with other mechanisms proposed in the literature. Property (2), we stress, is a much stronger test of the relevance of the time-reparametrization invariance scenario.Comment: 24 pages, 12 fig