Edwards-Anderson model 2026-10-18
A common Ising version of the Edwards-Anderson model places Ising spins on a lattice with short-range, fixed random interactions . The displayed sum counts each interacting pair once; positive favors equal spins, negative favors opposite spins. Different samples retain different couplings. Quenched disorder describes this fixed-sample averaging.[ref]
Replica symmetry breaking 2026-10-18
Giorgio Parisi's 1979 work replaced a single replica order parameter by an infinite hierarchy in the mean-field theory of spin glasses. The claim concerns a thermodynamic model, rather than inequivalence of the labels attached to two finite laboratory copies.[ref]
Infinite Number of Order Parameters for Spin-Glasses by Giorgio Parisi. Abstract, 3 December 1979: an infinite number of order parameters in mean-field replica theory
For equilibrium states with weights and local means , define . The distribution records their similarities. This state-based overlap distribution is distinct from the finite instantaneous spin overlap used in the triangle example.[ref]
Nobel Lecture: Multiple equilibria by Giorgio Parisi. §V, equations (12)–(14), overlaps between equilibrium states and their sample-dependent distribution