Order-parameter fluctuations (OPF) in spin glasses: Monte Carlo simulations and exact results for small sizes

The use of parameters measuring order-parameter fluctuations (OPF) has been encouraged by the recent results reported in referenece [2,3] which show that two of these parameters, G and Gc, take universal values in the limT→0. In this paper we present a detailed study of parameters measuring OPF for two mean-field models with and without time-reversal symmetry which exhibit different patterns of replica symmetry breaking below the transition: the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model with and without a field and the Ising p-spin glass (p = 3). We give numerical results and analyze the consequences which replica equivalence imposes on these models in the infinite volume limit. We give evidence for the transition in each system and discuss the character of finite-size effects. Furthermore, a comparative study between this new family of parameters and the usual Binder cumulant analysis shows what kind of new information can be extracted from the finite T behavior of these quantities. The two main outcomes of this work are: 1) Parameters measuring OPF give better estimates than the Binder cumulant for Tc and even for very small systems they give evidence for the transition. 2) For systems with no time-reversal symmetry, parameters defined in terms of connected quantities are the proper ones to look at. PACS. 75.10.Nr Spin-glass and other random models – 05.50.+q Lattice theory and statistics (Ising, Potts, etc.) – 75.40.Gb Dynamic properties (dynamic susceptibility, spin waves, spin diffusion, dynamic scaling, etc.) – 75.40.Mg Numerical simulation studies