arXiv subjects

Andrea Cavagna

Publications and source records attributed to Andrea Cavagna.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2004

Cavity Method for Supersymmetry Breaking Spin Glasses

The spontaneous supersymmetry-breaking that takes place in certain spin-glass models signals a particular fragility in the structure of metastable states of such systems. This fragility is due to the presence of at least one marginal mode in the Hessian of the free energy, that makes the states highly susceptible under external perturbations. The cavity method is a technique that recursively describes the property of a system with N+1 spins in terms of those of a system with N spins. To do so, the cavity method assumes a certain degree of stability when adding a new spin to the system, i.e. it assumes that for a generic choice of the parameters there is an one-to-one correspondence between the metastable states of the system with N spins and the metastable states of the system with N+1 spins. In systems where the supersymmetry is broken such a correspondence does not exist, and an alternative formulation of the cavity method must be devised. We introduce a generalized cavity approach that takes care of this problem and we apply it to the computation of the probability distribution of the local magnetizations in the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model. Our findings agree with the correct supersymmetry-breaking result.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2004

Coexistence of supersymmetric and supersymmetry-breaking states in spherical spin-glasses

The structure of states of the perturbed p-spin spherical spin-glass is analyzed. At low enough free energy metastable states have a supersymmetric structure, while at higher free energies the supersymmetry is broken. The transition between the supersymmetric and the supersymmetry-breaking phase is triggered by a change in the stability of states.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2003

Numerical study of metastable states in Ising spin glasses

We study numerically the structure of metastable states in the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick spin glass. We find that all non-paramagnetic stationary points of the free energy are organized into pairs, consisting in a minimum and a saddle of order one, which coalesce in the thermodynamic limit. Within the annealed approximation, the entropic contribution of these states, that is the complexity, is compatible with the supersymmetry-breaking calculation performed in [A.J. Bray and M.A. Moore, J. Phys. C, 13 L469 (1980)]. This result indicates that the supersymmetry is spontaneously broken in the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2003

The role of the Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin supersymmetry in the calculation of the complexity for the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model

The Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin (BRST) supersymmetry is a powerful tool for the calculation of the complexity of metastable states in glassy systems, and it is particularly useful to uncover the relationships between complexity and standard thermodynamics. In this work we compute the Thouless-Anderson-Palmer complexity of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model at the quenched level, by using the BRST supersymmetry. We show that the complexity calculated at K steps of replica symmetry breaking is strictly related to the static free energy at K+1 steps of replica symmetry breaking. The supersymmetry therefore provides a prescription to obtain the complexity of the TAP states from the standard static free energy, even in models which are solved by more than one step of replica symmetry breaking. This recipe states that the complexity is given by the Legendre transform of the static free energy, where the Legendre parameter is the largest replica symmetry breaking point of the overlap matrix.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2003

Supersymmetric quenched complexity in the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model

By using the BRST supersymmetry we compute the quenched complexity of the TAP states in the SK model. We prove that the BRST complexity is equal to the Legendre transform of the static free energy with respect to the largest replica symmetry breaking point of its overlap matrix.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2002

On the formal equivalence of the TAP and thermodynamic methods in the SK model

We revisit two classic Thouless-Anderson-Palmer (TAP) studies of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model [Bray A J and Moore M A 1980 J. Phys. C 13, L469; De Dominicis C and Young A P, 1983 J. Phys. A 16, 2063]. By using the Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin (BRST) supersymmetry, we prove the general equivalence of TAP and replica partition functions, and show that the annealed calculation of the TAP complexity is formally identical to the quenched thermodynamic calculation of the free energy at one step level of replica symmetry breaking. The complexity we obtain by means of the BRST symmetry turns out to be considerably smaller than the previous non-symmetric value.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2002

Glass and polycrystal states in a lattice spin model

We numerically study a nondisordered lattice spin system with a first order liquid-crystal transition, as a model for supercooled liquids and glasses. Below the melting temperature the system can be kept in the metastable liquid phase, and it displays a dynamic phenomenology analogous to fragile supercooled liquids, with stretched exponential relaxation, power law increase of the relaxation time and high fragility index. At an effective spinodal temperature Tsp the relaxation time exceeds the crystal nucleation time, and the supercooled liquid loses stability. Below Tsp liquid properties cannot be extrapolated, in line with Kauzmann's scenario of a `lower metastability limit' of supercooled liquids as a solution of Kauzmann's paradox. The off-equilibrium dynamics below Tsp corresponds to fast nucleation of small, but stable, crystal droplets, followed by extremely slow growth, due to the presence of pinning energy barriers. In the early time region, which is longer the lower the temperature, this crystal-growth phase is indistinguishable from an off-equilibrium glass, both from a structural and a dynamical point of view: crystal growth has not advanced enough to be structurally detectable, and a violation of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem (FDT) typical of structural glasses is observed. On the other hand, for longer times crystallization reaches a threshold beyond which crystal domains are easily identified, and FDT violation becomes compatible with ordinary domain growth.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2002

Glassy dynamics, metastability limit and crystal growth in a lattice spin model

We introduce a lattice spin model where frustration is due to multibody interactions rather than quenched disorder in the Hamiltonian. The system has a crystalline ground state and below the melting temperature displays a dynamic behaviour typical of fragile glasses. However, the supercooled phase loses stability at an effective spinodal temperature, and thanks to this the Kauzmann paradox is resolved. Below the spinodal the system enters an off-equilibrium regime corresponding to fast crystal nucleation followed by slow activated crystal growth. In this phase and in a time region which is longer the lower the temperature we observe a violation of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem analogous to structural glasses. Moreover, we show that in this system there is no qualitative difference between a locally stable glassy configuration and a highly disordered polycrystal.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2002

Geometric approach to the dynamic glass transition

We numerically study the potential energy landscape of a fragile glassy system and find that the dynamic crossover corresponding to the glass transition is actually the effect of an underlying geometric transition caused by a qualitative change in the topological properties of the landscape. Furthermore, we show that the potential energy barriers connecting local glassy minima increase with decreasing energy of the minima, and we relate this behaviour to the fragility of the system. Finally, we analyze the real space structure of activated processes by studying the distribution of particle displacements for local minima connected by simple saddles.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2001

Interface Fluctuations, Burgers Equations, and Coarsening under Shear

We consider the interplay of thermal fluctuations and shear on the surface of the domains in various systems coarsening under an imposed shear flow. These include systems with nonconserved and conserved dynamics, and a conserved order parameter advected by a fluid whose velocity field satisfies the Navier-Stokes equation. In each case the equation of motion for the interface height reduces to an anisotropic Burgers equation. The scaling exponents that describe the growth and coarsening of the interface are calculated exactly in any dimension in the case of conserved and nonconserved dynamics. For a fluid-advected conserved order parameter we determine the exponents, but we are unable to build a consistent perturbative expansion to support their validity.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2001

Role of saddles in mean-field dynamics above the glass transition

Recent numerical developments in the study of glassy systems have shown that it is possible to give a purely geometric interpretation of the dynamic glass transition by considering the properties of unstable saddle points of the energy. Here we further develop this program in the context of a mean-field model, by analytically studying the properties of the closest saddle point to an equilibrium configuration of the system. We prove that when the glass transition is approached the energy of the closest saddle goes to the threshold energy, defined as the energy level below which the degree of instability of the typical stationary points vanishes. Moreover, we show that the distance between a typical equilibrium configuration and the closest saddle is always very small and that, surprisingly, it is almost independent of the temperature.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2001

Energy landscape of a Lennard-Jones liquid: Statistics of stationary points

Molecular dynamics simulations are used to generate an ensemble of saddles of the potential energy of a Lennard-Jones liquid. Classifying all extrema by their potential energy u and number of unstable directions k, a well defined relation k(u) is revealed. The degree of instability of typical stationary points vanishes at a threshold potential energy, which lies above the energy of the lowest glassy minima of the system. The energies of the inherent states, as obtained by the Stillinger-Weber method, approach the threshold energy at a temperature close to the mode-coupling transition temperature Tc.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2001

Fragile vs strong liquids: a saddles ruled scenario

In the context of the energy landscape description of supercooled liquids, we propose an explanation for the different behaviour of fragile and strong liquids. Above the Goldstein crossover temperature Tx, diffusion is interpreted as a motion in the phase space among unstable stationary points of the potential energy, that is among saddles. In this way two mechanisms of diffusion arise: mechanism A takes place when the system crosses potential energy barriers along stable uphill directions, while mechanism B consists in finding unstable downhill directions out of a saddle. Depending on the mutual value of the efficiency temperatures of A and B, we obtain two very different behaviours of the viscosity, reproducing the usual classification of liquids in fragile and strong. Moreover, this scenario very naturally predicts the possibility of a fragile-to-strong crossover when lowering the temperature.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2001

Interface Fluctuations under Shear

Coarsening systems under uniform shear display a long time regime characterized by the presence of highly stretched and thin domains. The question then arises whether thermal fluctuations may actually destroy this layered structure. To address this problem in the case of non-conserved dynamics we study an anisotropic version of the Burgers equation, constructed to describe thermal fluctuations of an interface in the presence of a uniform shear flow. As a result, we find that stretched domains are only marginally stable against thermal fluctuations in $d=2$, whereas they are stable in $d=3$.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2000

Dynamics and delocalisation transition for an interface driven by a uniform shear flow

We study the effect of a uniform shear flow on an interface separating the two broken-symmetry ordered phases of a two-dimensional system with nonconserved scalar order parameter. The interface, initially flat and perpendicular to the flow, is distorted by the shear flow. We show that there is a critical shear rate, γ_c, proportional to 1/L^2, (where L is the system width perpendicular to the flow) below which the interface can sustain the shear. In this regime the countermotion of the interface under its curvature balances the shear flow, and the stretched interface stabilizes into a time-independent shape whose form we determine analytically. For γ> γ_c, the interface acquires a non-zero velocity, whose profile is shown to reach a time-independent limit which we determine exactly. The analytical results are checked by numerical integration of the equations of motion.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2000

Saddles on the potential energy landscape of a Lennard-Jones liquid

By means of molecular dynamics simulations, we study the stationary points of the potential energy in a Lennard-Jones liquid, giving a purely geometric characterization of the energy landscape of the system. We find a linear relation between the degree of instability of the stationary points and their potential energy, and we locate the energy where the instability vanishes. This threshold energy marks the border between saddle-dominated and minima-dominated regions of the energy landscape. The temperature where the potential energy of the Stillinger-Weber minima becomes equal to the threshold energy turns out to be very close to the mode-coupling transition temperature.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2000

Ohta-Jasnow-Kawasaki Approximation for Nonconserved Coarsening under Shear

We analytically study coarsening dynamics in a system with nonconserved scalar order parameter, when a uniform time-independent shear flow is present. We use an anisotropic version of the Ohta-Jasnow-Kawasaki approximation to calculate the growth exponents in two and three dimensions: for d=3 the exponents we find are the same as expected on the basis of simple scaling arguments, that is 3/2 in the flow direction and 1/2 in all the other directions, while for d=2 we find an unusual behavior, in that the domains experience an unlimited narrowing for very large times and a nontrivial dynamical scaling appears. In addition, we consider the case where an oscillatory shear is applied to a two-dimensional system, finding in this case a standard t^1/2 growth, modulated by periodic oscillations. We support our two-dimensional results by means of numerical simulations and we propose to test our predictions by experiments on twisted nematic liquid crystals.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2000

Reply to Comment on ``Thermal Model for Adaptive Competition in a Market''

We reply to the Comment of Challet et al. [cond-mat/0004308] on our paper [Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 4429 (1999)]. We show that the claim of the Comment that the effects of the temperature in the Thermal Minority Game ``can be eliminated by time rescaling'' and consequently the behaviour is ``independent of T'' has no general validity.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗