We report a high-precision finite-size scaling study of the critical behavior of the three-dimensional Ising Edwards-Anderson model (the Ising spin glass). We have thermalized lattices up to $L=40$ using the Janus dedicated computer. Our analysis takes into account leading-order corrections to scaling. We obtain ${T}_{\mathrm{c}}=1.1019(29)$ for the critical temperature, $$\nu${}=2.562(42)$ for the thermal exponent, $$\eta${}=$-${}0.3900(36)$ for the anomalous dimension, and $$\omega${}=1.12(10)$ for the exponent of the leading corrections to scaling. Standard (hyper)scaling relations yield $$\alpha${}=$-${}5.69(13)$, $$\beta${}=0.782(10)$, and $$\gamma${}=6.13(11)$. We also compute several universal quantities at ${T}_{\mathrm{c}}$.
1 June 2010 in Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment
We study numerically the nonequilibrium dynamics of the Ising spin glass, for a time spanning 11 orders of magnitude, thus approaching the experimentally relevant scale (i.e., seconds). We introduce novel analysis techniques to compute the coherence length in a model-independent way. We present strong evidence for a replicon correlator and for overlap equivalence. The emerging picture is compatible with noncoarsening behavior.
22 December 2008 in Computing in Science & Engineering
Janus is a modular, massively parallel, and reconfigurable FPGA-based computing system. Each Janus module has one computational core and one host. Janus is tailored to, but not limited to, the needs of a class of hard scientific applications characterized by regular code structure, unconventional data-manipulation requirements, and a few Megabits database. The authors discuss this configurable system's architecture and focus on its use for Monte Carlo simulations of statistical mechanics, as Janus performs impressively on this class of application.
9 April 2012 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Spin glasses are a longstanding model for the sluggish dynamics that appear at the glass transition. However, spin glasses differ from structural glasses in a crucial feature: they enjoy a time reversal symmetry. This symmetry can be broken by applying an external magnetic field, but embarrassingly little is known about the critical behavior of a spin glass in a field. In this context, the space dimension is crucial. Simulations are easier to interpret in a large number of dimensions, but one must work below the upper critical dimension (i.e., ind < 6) in order for results to have relevance for experiments. Here we show conclusive evidence for the presence of a phase transition in a four-dimensional spin glass in a field. Two ingredients were crucial for this achievement: massive numerical simulations were carried out on the Janus special-purpose computer, and a new and powerful finite-size scaling method.