Lecturer: Prof. Israel Klich
Affiliation: University of Virginia
Abstract:
When spins are regularly arranged in a triangular
fashion, the spins may not satisfy simultaneously
their antiferromagnetic interactions with their
neighbors. This phenomenon, called frustration,
may lead to a large set of ground states and to
exotic states such as spin ice and spin liquid.
However, when frustration is present
simultaneously with disorder, a spin-glass is known
to be a typical state of such a magnetic system. Is
disorder necessary for a spin glass to form? This
fundamental question has been frequently asked
and several theoretical models of clean glassy
states have been proposed, typically relying on
long range interactions.
Motivated by puzzling behavior observed in a well
studied magnetic systems (SCGO), I describe a
novel mechanism wherein quantum fluctuations
cause a clean system governed by simple local
interactions to freeze into a glass. At the heart of
the effect is an unusual scaling of the number of
local minima, with a scaling extensive in the
boundary length rather than the volume. I will
explain how these properties follow by a
combination of tools and mappings, leading to a
problem of counting tessellations. I will also
present recent experimental evidence for the spin
jam scenario.