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D. L. Stein

Publications and source records attributed to D. L. Stein.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
arXiv2006

Magnetic Reversal in Nanoscopic Ferromagnetic Rings

We present a theory of magnetization reversal due to thermal fluctuations in thin submicron-scale rings composed of soft magnetic materials. The magnetization in such geometries is more stable against reversal than that in thin needles and other geometries, where sharp ends or edges can initiate nucleation of a reversed state. The 2D ring geometry also allows us to evaluate the effects of nonlocal magnetostatic forces. We find a `phase transition', which should be experimentally observable, between an Arrhenius and a non-Arrhenius activation regime as magnetic field is varied in a ring of fixed size.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗
arXiv2005

Theory of metastability in simple metal nanowires

Thermally induced conductance jumps of metal nanowires are modeled using stochastic Ginzburg-Landau field theories. Changes in radius are predicted to occur via the nucleation of surface kinks at the wire ends, consistent with recent electron microscopy studies. The activation rate displays nontrivial dependence on nanowire length, and undergoes first- or second-order-like transitions as a function of length. The activation barriers of the most stable structures are predicted to be universal, i.e., independent of the radius of the wire, and proportional to the square root of the surface tension. The reduction of the activation barrier under strain is also determined.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗
arXiv2005

Local vs. Global Variables for Spin Glasses

We discuss a framework for understanding why spin glasses differ so remarkably from homogeneous systems like ferromagnets, in the context of the sharply divergent low temperature behavior of short- and infinite-range versions of the same model. Our analysis is grounded in understanding the distinction between two broad classes of thermodynamic variables -- those that describe the global features of a macroscopic system, and those that describe, or are sensitive to, its local features. In homogeneous systems both variables generally behave similarly, but this is not at all so in spin glasses. In much of the literature these two different classes of variables were commingled and confused. By analyzing their quite different behaviors in finite- and infinite-range spin glass models, we see the fundamental reason why the two systems possess very different types of low-temperature phases. In so doing, we also reconcile apparent discrepancies between the infinite-volume limit and the behavior of large, finite volumes, and provide tools for understanding inhomogeneous systems in a wide array of contexts. We further propose a set of `global variables' that are definable and sensible for both short-range and infinite-range spin glasses, and allow a meaningful basis for comparison of their low-temperature properties.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗
arXiv2005

Short-Range Spin Glasses: Results and Speculations

This paper is divided into two parts. The first part concerns several standard scenarios for how short-range spin glasses might behave at low temperature. Earlier theorems of the authors are reviewed, and some new results presented, including a proof that, in a thermodynamic system exhibiting infinitely many pure states and with the property (such as in replica-symmetry-breaking scenarios) that mixtures of these states manifest themselves in large finite volumes, there must be an uncountable infinity of states. In the second part of the paper, we offer some conjectures and speculations on possible unusual scenarios for the low-temperature phase of finite-range spin glasses in various dimensions. We include a discussion of the possibility of a phase transition without broken spin-flip symmetry, and provide an argument suggesting that in low dimensions such a possibility may occur. The argument is based on a new proof of Fortuin-Kasteleyn random cluster percolation at nonzero temperatures in dimensions as low as two. A second speculation considers the possibility, in analogy to certain phenomena in Anderson localization theory, of a much stronger type of chaotic temperature dependence than has previously been discussed: one in which the actual state space structure, and not just the correlations, vary chaotically with temperature.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗
arXiv2004

Short-Range Spin Glasses: The Metastate Approach

We discuss the metastate, a probability measure on thermodynamic states, and its usefulness in addressing difficult questions pertaining to the statistical mechanics of systems with quenched disorder, in particular short-range spin glasses. The possible low-temperature structures of realistic (i.e., short-range) spin glass models are described, and a number of fundamental open questions are presented.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗
arXiv2004

Zero Temperature Dynamics of 2D and 3D Ising Ferromagnets

We consider zero-temperature, stochastic Ising models with nearest-neighbor interactions in two and three dimensions. Using both symmetric and asymmetric initial configurations, we study the evolution of the system with time. We examine the issue of convergence of the dynamics and discuss the nature of the final state of the system. By determining a relation between the median number of spin flips per site, the probability p that a spin in the initial spin configuration takes the value +1, and lattice size, we conclude that in two and three dimensions, the system converges to a frozen (but not necessarily uniform) state when p is not equal to 1/2. Results for p=1/2 in three dimensions are consistent with the conjecture that the system does not evolve towards a fully frozen limiting state. Our simulations also uncover `striped' and `blinker' states first discussed by Spirin et al., and their statistical properties are investigated.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗
arXiv2004

Large Fluctuations, Classical Activation, Quantum Tunneling, and Phase Transitions

We study two broad classes of physically dissimilar problems, each corresponding to stochastically driven escape from a potential well. The first class, often used to model noise-induced order parameter reversal, comprises Ginzburg-Landau-type field theories defined on finite intervals, perturbed by thermal or other classical spatiotemporal noise. The second class comprises systems in which a single degree of freedom is perturbed by both thermal and quantum noise. Each class possesses a transition in its escape behavior, at a critical value of interval length and temperature, respectively. It is shown that there exists a mapping from one class of problems to the other, and that their respective transitions can be understood within a unified theoretical context. We consider two applications within the first class: thermally induced breakup of monovalent metallic nanowires, and stochastic reversal of magnetization in thin ferromagnetic annuli. Finally, we explore the depth of the analogy between the two classes of problems, and discuss to what extent each case exhibits the characteristic signs of critical behavior at a sharp second-order phase transition.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗
arXiv2004

Fluctuational Instabilities of Alkali and Noble Metal Nanowires

We introduce a continuum approach to studying the lifetimes of monovalent metal nanowires. By modelling the thermal fluctuations of cylindrical nanowires through the use of stochastic Ginzburg-Landau classical field theories, we construct a self-consistent approach to the fluctuation-induced `necking' of nanowires. Our theory provides quantitative estimates of the lifetimes for alkali metal nanowires in the conductance range 10 < G/G_0 < 100 (where G_0=2e^2/h is the conductance quantum), and allows us to account for qualitative differences in the conductance histograms of alkali vs. noble metal nanowires.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗
arXiv2003

Critical Behavior of the Kramers Escape Rate in Asymmetric Classical Field Theories

We introduce an asymmetric classical Ginzburg-Landau model in a bounded interval, and study its dynamical behavior when perturbed by weak spatiotemporal noise. The Kramers escape rate from a locally stable state is computed as a function of the interval length. An asymptotically sharp second-order phase transition in activation behavior, with corresponding critical behavior of the rate prefactor, occurs at a critical length l_c, similar to what is observed in symmetric models. The weak-noise exit time asymptotics, to both leading and subdominant orders, are analyzed at all interval lengthscales. The divergence of the prefactor as the critical length is approached is discussed in terms of a crossover from non-Arrhenius to Arrhenius behavior as noise intensity decreases. More general models without symmetry are observed to display similar behavior, suggesting that the presence of a ``phase transition'' in escape behavior is a robust and widespread phenomenon.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗
arXiv2003

Nonrealistic Behavior of Mean Field Spin Glasses

We study chaotic size dependence of the low temperature correlations in the SK spin glass. We prove that as temperature scales to zero with volume, for any typical coupling realization, the correlations cycle through every spin configuration in every fixed observation window. This cannot happen in short-ranged models as there it would mean that every spin configuration is an infinite-volume ground state. Its occurrence in the SK model means that the commonly used `modified clustering' notion of states sheds little light on the RSB solution of SK, and conversely, the RSB solution sheds little light on the thermodynamic structure of EA models.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗
arXiv2003

Ordering and Broken Symmetry in Short-Ranged Spin Glasses

In this topical review we discuss the nature of the low-temperature phase in both infinite-ranged and short-ranged spin glasses. We analyze the meaning of pure states in spin glasses, and distinguish between physical, or ``observable'', states and (probably) unphysical, ``invisible'' states. We review replica symmetry breaking, and describe what it would mean in short-ranged spin glasses. We introduce the notion of thermodynamic chaos, which leads to the metastate construct. We apply these tools to short-ranged spin glasses, and conclude that replica symmetry breaking, in any form, cannot describe the low-temperature spin glass phase in any finite dimension. We then discuss the remaining possible scenarios that_could_ describe the low-temperature phase, and the differences they exhibit in some of their physical properties -- in particular, the interfaces that separate them. We also present rigorous results on metastable states and discuss their connection to thermodynamic states. Finally, we discuss some of the differences between the statistical mechanics of homogeneous systems and those with quenched disorder and frustration.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗
arXiv2003

The Effects of Weak Spatiotemporal Noise on a Bistable One-Dimensional System

We treat analytically a model that captures several features of the phenomenon of spatially inhomogeneous reversal of an order parameter. The model is a classical Ginzburg-Landau field theory restricted to a bounded one-dimensional spatial domain, perturbed by weak spatiotemporal noise having a flat power spectrum in time and space. Our analysis extends the Kramers theory of noise-induced transitions to the case when the system acted on by the noise has nonzero spatial extent, and the noise itself is spatially dependent. By extending the Langer-Coleman theory of the noise-induced decay of a metastable state, we determine the dependence of the activation barrier and the Kramers reversal rate prefactor on the size of the spatial domain. As this is increased from zero and passes through a certain critical value, a transition between activation regimes occurs, at which the rate prefactor diverges. Beyond the transition, reversal preferentially takes place in a spatially inhomogeneous rather than in a homogeneous way. Transitions of this sort were not discovered by Langer or Coleman, since they treated only the infinite-volume limit. Our analysis uses higher transcendental functions to handle the case of finite volume. Similar transitions between activation regimes should occur in other models of metastable systems with nonzero spatial extent, perturbed by weak noise, as the size of the spatial domain is varied.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗
arXiv2003

Spin Glasses: Still Complex After All These Years?

Spin glasses are magnetic systems exhibiting both quenched disorder and frustration, and have often been cited as examples of `complex systems.' In this talk I review some of the basic notions of spin glass physics, and discuss how some of our recent progress in understanding their properties might lead to new viewpoints of how they manifest `complexity'.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗
arXiv2001

The State(s) of Replica Symmetry Breaking: Mean Field Theories vs. Short-Ranged Spin Glasses

We prove the impossibility of recent attempts to decouple the Replica Symmetry Breaking (RSB) picture for finite-dimensional spin glasses from the existence of many thermodynamic (i.e., infinite-volume) pure states while preserving another signature RSB feature --- space filling relative domain walls between different finite-volume states. Thus revisions of the notion of pure states cannot shield the RSB picture from the internal contradictions that rule out its physical correctness in finite dimensions at low temperature in large finite volume.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗
arXiv2001

Are There Incongruent Ground States in 2D Edwards-Anderson Spin Glasses?

We present a detailed proof of a previously announced result (C.M. Newman and D.L. Stein, Phys. Rev. Lett. v. 84, pp. 3966--3969 (2000)) supporting the absence of multiple (incongruent) ground state pairs for 2D Edwards-Anderson spin glasses (with zero external field and, e.g., Gaussian couplings): if two ground state pairs (chosen from metastates with, e.g., periodic boundary conditions) on the infinite square lattice are distinct, then the dual bonds where they differ form a single doubly-infinite, positive-density domain wall. It is an open problem to prove that such a situation cannot occur (or else to show --- much less likely in our opinion --- that it indeed does happen) in these models. Our proof involves an analysis of how (infinite-volume) ground states change as (finitely many) couplings vary, which leads us to a notion of zero-temperature excitation metastates, that may be of independent interest.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗
arXiv2001

Droplet Nucleation and Domain Wall Motion in a Bounded Interval

We study a spatially extended model of noise-induced magnetization reversal: a classical Ginzburg-Landau theory, restricted to a bounded interval and perturbed by weak spatiotemporal noise. We compute the activation barrier and Kramers prefactor. As the interval length increases, a transition between activation regimes occurs, at which the prefactor diverges. We relate this to transitions that occur in low-temperature quantum field theory.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗
arXiv2001

Interfaces (and Regional Congruence?) in Spin Glasses

We present a general theorem restricting properties of interfaces between thermodynamic states and apply it to the spin glass excitations observed numerically by Krzakala-Martin and Palassini-Young in spatial dimensions d=3 and 4. We show that such excitations, with interface dimension smaller than d, cannot yield regionally congruent thermodynamic states. More generally, zero density interfaces of translation-covariant excitations cannot be pinned (by the disorder) in any d but rather must deflect to infinity in the thermodynamic limit. Additional consequences concerning regional congruence in spin glasses and other systems are discussed.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗