Surface Tension in Kac Glass Models

In this paper we study a distance-dependent surface tension, defined as the free-energy cost to put metastable states at a given distance. This will be done in the framework of a disordered microscopic model with Kac interactions that can be solved in the mean-field limit.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure

Spin glass models with Kac interactions

In this paper I will review my work on disordered systems -spin glass model with two body and $p>2$ body interactions- with long but finite interaction range $R$. I will describe the relation of these model with Mean Field Theory in the Kac limit and some attempts to go beyond mean field.Comment: Proceedings of the Stat-phys23 conferenc

A note on the Guerra and Talagrand theorems for Mean Field Spin Glasses: the simple case of spherical models

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 precision. We present the essential ideas of the proof, we stress its connections with the theory of effective potentials for glassy systems, and we reduce the technically more difficult part of the Talagrand's analysis to an explicit evaluation of the solution of a variational problem.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures. Added references and minor language correction

Metastable States, Relaxation Times and Free-energy Barriers in Finite Dimensional Glassy Systems

In this note we discuss metastability in a long-but-finite range disordered model for the glass transition. We show that relaxation is dominated by configuration belonging to metastable states and associate an in principle computable free-energy barrier to the equilibrium relaxation time. Adam-Gibbs like relaxation times appear naturally in this approach.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Typos correcte

Canonical DSR

For a certain example of a "doubly special relativity theory" the modified space-time Lorentz transformations are obtained from momentum space transformations by using canonical methods. In the sequel an energy-momentum dependent space-time metric is constructed, which is essentially invariant under the modified Lorentz transformations. By associating such a metric to every Planck cell in space and the energy-momentum contained in it, a solution of the problem of macroscopic bodies in doubly special relativity is suggested.Comment: 11 page

Charge conjugation invariance of the Spectator Equations

In response to recent critcism, we show how to define the spectator equations for negative energies so that charge conjugation invariance is preserved. The result, which emerges naturally from the application of spectator principles to systems of particles with negative energies, is to replace all factors of the external energies $W_i$ by $\sqrt{W^2_i}$, insuring that the amplitudes are independent of the sign of the energies $W_i$.Comment: 10 pages; 4 figure