Scaling, domains, and states in the four-dimensional random field Ising magnet

The four dimensional Gaussian random field Ising magnet is investigated numerically at zero temperature, using samples up to size $64^4$, to test scaling theories and to investigate the nature of domain walls and the thermodynamic limit. As the magnetization exponent $\beta$ is more easily distinguishable from zero in four dimensions than in three dimensions, these results provide a useful test of conventional scaling theories. Results are presented for the critical behavior of the heat capacity, magnetization, and stiffness. The fractal dimensions of the domain walls at criticality are estimated. A notable difference from three dimensions is the structure of the spin domains: frozen spins of both signs percolate at a disorder magnitude less than the value at the ferromagnetic to paramagnetic transition. Hence, in the vicinity of the transition, there are two percolating clusters of opposite spins that are fixed under any boundary conditions. This structure changes the interpretation of the domain walls for the four dimensional case. The scaling of the effect of boundary conditions on the interior spin configuration is found to be consistent with the domain wall dimension. There is no evidence of a glassy phase: there appears to be a single transition from two ferromagnetic states to a single paramagnetic state, as in three dimensions. The slowing down of the ground state algorithm is also used to study this model and the links between combinatorial optimization and critical behavior.Comment: 13 pages, 16 figure

Effects of Disorder on Electron Transport in Arrays of Quantum Dots

We investigate the zero-temperature transport of electrons in a model of quantum dot arrays with a disordered background potential. One effect of the disorder is that conduction through the array is possible only for voltages across the array that exceed a critical voltage $V_T$. We investigate the behavior of arrays in three voltage regimes: below, at and above the critical voltage. For voltages less than $V_T$, we find that the features of the invasion of charge onto the array depend on whether the dots have uniform or varying capacitances. We compute the first conduction path at voltages just above $V_T$ using a transfer-matrix style algorithm. It can be used to elucidate the important energy and length scales. We find that the geometrical structure of the first conducting path is essentially unaffected by the addition of capacitive or tunneling resistance disorder. We also investigate the effects of this added disorder to transport further above the threshold. We use finite size scaling analysis to explore the nonlinear current-voltage relationship near $V_T$. The scaling of the current $I$ near $V_T$, $I\sim(V-V_T)^{\beta}$, gives similar values for the effective exponent $\beta$ for all varieties of tunneling and capacitive disorder, when the current is computed for voltages within a few percent of threshold. We do note that the value of $\beta$ near the transition is not converged at this distance from threshold and difficulties in obtaining its value in the $V\searrow V_T$ limit

Exact Algorithm for Sampling the 2D Ising Spin Glass

A sampling algorithm is presented that generates spin glass configurations of the 2D Edwards-Anderson Ising spin glass at finite temperature, with probabilities proportional to their Boltzmann weights. Such an algorithm overcomes the slow dynamics of direct simulation and can be used to study long-range correlation functions and coarse-grained dynamics. The algorithm uses a correspondence between spin configurations on a regular lattice and dimer (edge) coverings of a related graph: Wilson's algorithm [D. B. Wilson, Proc. 8th Symp. Discrete Algorithms 258, (1997)] for sampling dimer coverings on a planar lattice is adapted to generate samplings for the dimer problem corresponding to both planar and toroidal spin glass samples. This algorithm is recursive: it computes probabilities for spins along a "separator" that divides the sample in half. Given the spins on the separator, sample configurations for the two separated halves are generated by further division and assignment. The algorithm is simplified by using Pfaffian elimination, rather than Gaussian elimination, for sampling dimer configurations. For n spins and given floating point precision, the algorithm has an asymptotic run-time of O(n^{3/2}); it is found that the required precision scales as inverse temperature and grows only slowly with system size. Sample applications and benchmarking results are presented for samples of size up to n=128^2, with fixed and periodic boundary conditions.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, 1 table; minor clarification

Irrational mode locking in quasiperiodic systems

A model for ac-driven systems, based on the Tang-Wiesenfeld-Bak-Coppersmith-Littlewood automaton for an elastic medium, exhibits mode-locked steps with frequencies that are irrational multiples of the drive frequency, when the pinning is spatially quasiperiodic. Detailed numerical evidence is presented for the large-system-size convergence of such a mode-locked step. The irrational mode locking is stable to small thermal noise and weak disorder. Continuous time models with irrational mode locking and possible experimental realizations are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 table; revision: 2 figures modified, reference added, minor clarification

Persistence and Memory in Patchwork Dynamics for Glassy Models

Slow dynamics in disordered materials prohibits direct simulation of their rich nonequilibrium behavior at large scales. "Patchwork dynamics" is introduced to mimic relaxation over a very broad range of time scales by equilibrating or optimizing directly on successive length scales. This dynamics is used to study coarsening and to replicate memory effects for spin glasses and random ferromagnets. It is also used to find, with high confidence, exact ground states in large or toroidal samples.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; reference correctio

Chaos and universality in two-dimensional Ising spin glasses

Recently extended precise numerical methods and droplet scaling arguments allow for a coherent picture of the glassy states of two-dimensional Ising spin glasses to be assembled. The length scale at which entropy becomes important and produces "chaos", the extreme sensitivity of the state to temperature, is found to depend on the type of randomness. For the $\pm J$ model this length scale dominates the low-temperature specific heat. Although there is a type of universality, some critical exponents do depend on the distribution of disorder.Comment: 4 figure