Shear-thickening and entropy-driven reentrance

We discuss a generic mechanism for shear-thickening analogous to entropy-driven phase reentrance. We implement it in the context of non-relaxational mean-field glassy systems: although very simple, the microscopic models we study present a dynamical phase diagram with second and first order stirring-induced jamming transitions leading to intermittency, metastability and phase coexistence as seen in some experiments. The jammed state is fragile with respect to change in the stirring direction. Our approach provides a direct derivation of a Mode-Coupling theory of shear-thickening.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, minor changes, references adde

First-order transitions and triple point on a random p-spin interaction model

The effects of competing quadrupolar- and spin-glass orderings are investigated on a spin-1 Ising model with infinite-range random $p$-spin interactions. The model is studied through the replica approach and a phase diagram is obtained in the limit $p\to\infty$. The phase diagram, obtained within replica-symmetry breaking, exhibits a very unusual feature in magnetic models: three first-order transition lines meeting at a commom triple point, where all phases of the model coexist.Comment: 9 pages, 2 ps figures include

Cluster expansions in dilute systems: applications to satisfiability problems and spin glasses

We develop a systematic cluster expansion for dilute systems in the highly dilute phase. We first apply it to the calculation of the entropy of the K-satisfiability problem in the satisfiable phase. We derive a series expansion in the control parameter, the average connectivity, that is identical to the one obtained by using the replica approach with a replica symmetric ({\sc rs}) {\it Ansatz}, when the order parameter is calculated via a perturbative expansion in the control parameter. As a second application we compute the free-energy of the Viana-Bray model in the paramagnetic phase. The cluster expansion allows one to compute finite-size corrections in a simple manner and these are particularly important in optimization problems. Importantly enough, these calculations prove the exactness of the {\sc rs} {\it Ansatz} below the percolation threshold and might require its revision between this and the easy-to-hard transition.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figs, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Metastable states in the Blume-Emery-Griffiths spin glass model

We study the Blume-Emery-Griffiths spin glass model in presence of an attractive coupling between real replicas, and evaluate the effective potential as a function of the density overlap. We find that there is a region, above the first order transition of the model, where metastable states with a large density overlap exist. The line where these metastable states appear should correspond to a purely dynamical transition, with a breaking of ergodicity. Differently from what happens in p-spin glasses, in this model the dynamical transition would not be the precursor of a 1-step RSB transition, but (probably) of a full RSB transition.Comment: RevTeX, 4 pages, 2 fig

Spin-glass behaviour on random lattices

The ground-state phase diagram of an Ising spin-glass model on a random graph with an arbitrary fraction $w$ of ferromagnetic interactions is analysed in the presence of an external field. Using the replica method, and performing an analysis of stability of the replica-symmetric solution, it is shown that $w=1/2$, correponding to an unbiased spin glass, is a singular point in the phase diagram, separating a region with a spin-glass phase ($w<1/2$) from a region with spin-glass, ferromagnetic, mixed, and paramagnetic phases ($w>1/2$)

Tricritical behaviour of Ising spin glasses with charge fluctuations

We show that tricritical points displaying unusal behaviour exist in phase diagrams of fermionic Ising spin glasses as the chemical potential or the filling assumes characteristic values. Exact results for infinite range interaction and a one loop renormalization group analysis of thermal tricritical fluctuations for finite range models are presented. Surprising similarities with zero temperature transitions and a new $T=0$ tricritical point of metallic quantum spin glasses are derived.Comment: 4 pages, 1 Postscript figure, minor change

On composite systems of dilute and dense couplings

Composite systems, where couplings are of two types, a combination of strong dilute and weak dense couplings of Ising spins, are examined through the replica method. The dilute and dense parts are considered to have independent canonical disordered or uniform bond distributions; mixing the models by variation of a parameter $\gamma$ alongside inverse temperature $\beta$ we analyse the respective thermodynamic solutions. We describe the variation in high temperature transitions as mixing occurs; in the vicinity of these transitions we exactly analyse the competing effects of the dense and sparse models. By using the replica symmetric ansatz and population dynamics we described the low temperature behaviour of mixed systems.Comment: 35 pages, 9 figures, submitted to JPhys

Optimisation problems and replica symmetry breaking in finite connectivity spin-glasses

A formalism capable of handling the first step of hierarchical replica symmetry breaking in finite-connectivity models is introduced. The emerging order parameter is claimed to be a probability distribution over the space of field distributions (or, equivalently magnetisation distributions) inside the cluster of states. The approach is shown to coincide with the previous works in the replica symmetric case and in the two limit cases m=0,1 where m is Parisi's break-point. As an application to the study of optimization problems, the ground-state properties of the random 3-Satisfiability problem are investigated and we present a first RSB solution improving replica symmetric results.Comment: 16 pages Revtex file, 1 figure; amended version with two new appendices; to be published in J.Phys.

Metastable configurations of spin models on random graphs

One-flip stable configurations of an Ising-model on a random graph with fluctuating connectivity are examined. In order to perform the quenched average of the number of stable configurations we introduce a global order-parameter function with two arguments. The analytical results are compared with numerical simulations.Comment: 11 pages Revtex, minor changes, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Quenched Random Graphs

Spin models on quenched random graphs are related to many important optimization problems. We give a new derivation of their mean-field equations that elucidates the role of the natural order parameter in these models.Comment: 9 pages, report CPTH-A264.109