This review summarizes recent developments in the theory of spin glasses, as well as pertinent experimental data. The most characteristic properties of spin glass systems are described, and related phenomena in other glassy systems (dielectric and orientational glasses) are mentioned. The Edwards-Anderson model of spin glasses and its treatment within the replica method and mean-field theory are outlined, and concepts such as "frustration," "broken replica symmetry," "broken ergodicity," etc., are discussed. The dynamic approach to describing the spin glass transition is emphasized. Monte Carlo simulations of spin glasses and the insight gained by them are described. Other topics discussed include site-disorder models, phenomenological theories for the frozen phase and its excitations, phase diagrams in which spin glass order and ferromagnetism or antiferromagnetism compete, the Ne\'el model of superparamagnetism and related approaches, and possible connections between spin glasses and other topics in the theory of disordered condensed-matter systems.

Spin glasses: Experimental facts, theoretical concepts, and open questions

Weyl and Dirac semimetals are three-dimensional phases of matter with gapless electronic excitations that are protected by topology and symmetry. As three-dimensional analogs of graphene, they have generated much recent interest. Deep connections exist with particle physics models of relativistic chiral fermions, and, despite their gaplessness, to solid-state topological and Chern insulators. Their characteristic electronic properties lead to protected surface states and novel responses to applied electric and magnetic fields. The theoretical foundations of these phases, their proposed realizations in solid-state systems, and recent experiments on candidate materials as well as their relation to other states of matter are reviewed.

Weyl and Dirac semimetals in three-dimensional solids

This article reviews the physics of high-temperature superconductors from the point of view of the doping of a Mott insulator. The basic electronic structure of cuprates is reviewed, emphasizing the physics of strong correlation and establishing the model of a doped Mott insulator as a starting point. A variety of experiments are discussed, focusing on the region of the phase diagram close to the Mott insulator (the underdoped region) where the behavior is most anomalous. The normal state in this region exhibits pseudogap phenomenon. In contrast, the quasiparticles in the superconducting state are well defined and behave according to theory. This review introduces Anderson's idea of the resonating valence bond and argues that it gives a qualitative account of the data. The importance of phase fluctuations is discussed, leading to a theory of the transition temperature, which is driven by phase fluctuations and the thermal excitation of quasiparticles. However, an argument is made that phase fluctuations can only explain pseudogap phenomenology over a limited temperature range, and some additional physics is needed to explain the onset of singlet formation at very high temperatures. A description of the numerical method of the projected wave function is presented, which turns out to be a very useful technique for implementing the strong correlation constraint and leads to a number of predictions which are in agreement with experiments. The remainder of the paper deals with an analytic treatment of the $t\text{\ensuremath{-}}J$ model, with the goal of putting the resonating valence bond idea on a more formal footing. The slave boson is introduced to enforce the constraint againt double occupation and it is shown that the implementation of this local constraint leads naturally to gauge theories. This review follows the historical order by first examining the U(1) formulation of the gauge theory. Some inadequacies of this formulation for underdoping are discussed, leading to the SU(2) formulation. Here follows a rather thorough discussion of the role of gauge theory in describing the spin-liquid phase of the undoped Mott insulator. The difference between the high-energy gauge group in the formulation of the problem versus the low-energy gauge group, which is an emergent phenomenon, is emphasized. Several possible routes to deconfinement based on different emergent gauge groups are discussed, which leads to the physics of fractionalization and spin-charge separation. Next the extension of the SU(2) formulation to nonzero doping is described with a focus on a part of the mean-field phase diagram called the staggered flux liquid phase. It will be shown that inclusion of the gauge fluctuation provides a reasonable description of the pseudogap phase. It is emphasized that $d$-wave superconductivity can be considered as evolving from a stable U(1) spin liquid. These ideas are applied to the high-${T}_{c}$ cuprates, and their implications for the vortex structure and the phase diagram are discussed. A possible test of the topological structure of the pseudogap phase is described.

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Doping a Mott insulator: Physics of high-temperature superconductivity

Wetting phenomena are ubiquitous in nature and technology. A solid substrate exposed to the environment is almost invariably covered by a layer of fluid material. In this review, the surface forces that lead to wetting are considered, and the equilibrium surface coverage of a substrate in contact with a drop of liquid. Depending on the nature of the surface forces involved, different scenarios for wetting phase transitions are possible; recent progress allows us to relate the critical exponents directly to the nature of the surface forces which lead to the different wetting scenarios. Thermal fluctuation effects, which can be greatly enhanced for wetting of geometrically or chemically structured substrates, and are much stronger in colloidal suspensions, modify the adsorption singularities. Macroscopic descriptions and microscopic theories have been developed to understand and predict wetting behavior relevant to microfluidics and nanofluidics applications. Then the dynamics of wetting is examined. A drop, placed on a substrate which it wets, spreads out to form a film. Conversely, a nonwetted substrate previously covered by a film dewets upon an appropriate change of system parameters. The hydrodynamics of both wetting and dewetting is influenced by the presence of the three-phase contact line separating "wet" regions from those that are either dry or covered by a microscopic film only. Recent theoretical, experimental, and numerical progress in the description of moving contact line dynamics are reviewed, and its relation to the thermodynamics of wetting is explored. In addition, recent progress on rough surfaces is surveyed. The anchoring of contact lines and contact angle hysteresis are explored resulting from surface inhomogeneities. Further, new ways to mold wetting characteristics according to technological constraints are discussed, for example, the use of patterned surfaces, surfactants, or complex fluids.

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Wetting and Spreading

The density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG) is a numerical algorithm for the efficient truncation of the Hilbert space of low-dimensional strongly correlated quantum systems based on a rather general decimation prescription. This algorithm has achieved unprecedented precision in the description of one-dimensional quantum systems. It has therefore quickly become the method of choice for numerical studies of such systems. Its applications to the calculation of static, dynamic, and thermodynamic quantities in these systems are reviewed here. The potential of DMRG applications in the fields of two-dimensional quantum systems, quantum chemistry, three-dimensional small grains, nuclear physics, equilibrium and nonequilibrium statistical physics, and time-dependent phenomena is also discussed. This review additionally considers the theoretical foundations of the method, examining its relationship to matrix-product states and the quantum information content of the density matrices generated by the DMRG.

http://www.physics.udel.edu/~bnikolic/QTTG/NOTES/DMRG/SCHOLLWOCK=RMP_dmrg.pdf

The density-matrix renormalization group

The effects of thermal fluctuations, quenched disorder, and anisotropy on the phases and phase transitions in type-II superconductors are examined, focusing on linear and nonlinear transport properties. In zero magnetic field there are two crossovers upon approaching ${\mathit{T}}_{\mathit{c}}$, first the ``Ginzburg'' crossover from mean-field behavior to the universality class of an uncharged superfluid, and then, much closer to ${\mathit{T}}_{\mathit{c}}$ for strongly type-II systems, a crossover to the universality class of a charged superfluid. The primary focus of this paper is on the behavior in the presence of a penetrating magnetic field. In a clean system the vortex-lattice phase can melt due to thermal fluctuations; we estimate the phase boundary in a variety of regimes. Pinning of vortices due to impurities or other defects destroys the long-range correlations of the vortex lattice, probably replacing it with a new vortex-glass phase that has spin-glasslike off-diagonal long-range order and is truly superconducting, in contrast to conventional theories of ``flux creep.'' The properties of this vortex-glass phase are examined, as well as the critical behavior near the transition from the vortex-glass to the vortex-fluid phase. The crossover from lattice to vortex-glass behavior for weak pinning is also examined. Linear and nonlinear conductivity measurements and other experiments on the high-${\mathit{T}}_{\mathit{c}}$ superconductors Y-Ba-Cu-O and Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O are discussed in light of the results. The latter is found to exhibit strongly two-dimensional behavior over large portions of its phase diagram.

https://link.aps.org/pdf/10.1103/PhysRevB.43.130

Thermal fluctuations, quenched disorder, phase transitions, and transport in type-II superconductors.

We consider the nonequilibrium behavior of the spin-glass ordered phase within the droplet scaling theory introduced previously. The fundamental long-time nonequilibrium process is assumed to be the thermally activated growth of spin-glass ordered domains. The remanent magnetization, m(t), in zero field is found to decay at long times as m(t)\ensuremath{\sim}${R}_{t}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}\ensuremath{\lambda}}$, where ${R}_{t}$\ensuremath{\sim}(lnt${)}^{1/\ensuremath{\psi}}$ is the linear domain size, \ensuremath{\psi} is the previously introduced barrier exponent describing the growth of activation-barrier heights with length scale, and \ensuremath{\lambda} is a new nonequilibrium dynamic exponent, satisfying the relation \ensuremath{\lambda}\ensuremath{\ge}d/2 for d-dimensional systems. The effects of waiting for partial equilibration before making a measurement are studied in various regimes. The effects of quenching first to one temperature and then to another are also examined. Such experiments can, in principle, be used to obtain information about the relative rate of dynamic evolution as well as the overlap between the equilibrium states at different temperatures. In particular, the length scale ${L}_{\ensuremath{\Delta}T}$, below which equilibrium correlations at temperatures T and T+\ensuremath{\Delta}T are similar, plays an important role. The decay of m(t) and the growth of spin-glass order after a quench are examined in Monte Carlo simulations of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model.

Nonequilibrium dynamics of spin glasses.

Randomly placed impurities that alter the local exchange couplings, but do not generate random fields or destroy the long-range order, roughen domain walls in Ising systems for dimensionality $\frac{5}{3}ldl5$. They also pin (localize) the walls in energetically favorable positions. This drastically slows down the kinetics of ordering. The pinned domain wall is a new critical phenomenon governed by a zero-temperature fixed point. For $d=2$, the critical exponents for domain-wall pinning energies and roughness as a function of length scale are estimated from numerically generated ground states.

Pinning and roughening of domain walls in Ising systems due to random impurities.

We present results of a numerical renormalization-group study of the isotropic S=1 Heisenberg chain. The density-matrix renormalization-group techniques used allow us to calculate a variety of properties of the chain with unprecedented accuracy. The ground-state energy per site of the infinite chain is found to be ${\mathit{e}}_{0}$\ensuremath{\simeq}-1.401 484 038 971(4). Open-ended S=1 chains have effective S=1/2 spins on each end, with exponential decay of the local spin moment away from the ends, with decay length \ensuremath{\xi}\ensuremath{\simeq}6.03(1). The spin-spin correlation function also decays exponentially, and although the correlation length cannot be measured as accurately as the open-end decay length, it appears that the two lengths are identical. The string correlation function shows long-range order, with g(\ensuremath{\infty})\ensuremath{\simeq}-0.374 325 096(2). The excitation energy of the first excited state, a state with one magnon with momentum q=\ensuremath{\pi}, is the Haldane gap, which we find to be \ensuremath{\Delta}\ensuremath{\simeq}0.410 50(2). We find many low-lying excited states, including one- and two-magnon states, for several different chain lengths. The magnons have spin S=1, so the two-magnon states are singlets (S=0), triplets (S=1), and quintuplets (S=2). For magnons with momenta near \ensuremath{\pi}, the magnon-magnon interaction in the triplet channel is shown to be attractive, while in the singlet and quintuplet channels it is repulsive.

Numerical renormalization-group study of low-lying eigenstates of the antiferromagnetic S=1 Heisenberg chain.

We report on current-voltage measurements in clean, untwinned ${\mathrm{YBa}}_{2}$${\mathrm{Cu}}_{3}$${\mathrm{O}}_{7}$ single crystals with picovolt voltage sensitivity and millikelvin temperature resolution in magnetic fields ranging up to 7 T. We find evidence for a melting transition in the vortex lattice which is hysteretic in both temperature and magnetic field. The measured thermal and magnetic hysteresis widths are related by the local slope of the phase boundary. This strongly supports the picture that, in the clean limit, the melting transition of the Abrikosov vortex lattice is a first-order phase transition.

David A. Huse

Papers

Thermal fluctuations, quenched disorder, phase transitions, and transport in type-II superconductors.

Nonequilibrium dynamics of spin glasses.

Pinning and roughening of domain walls in Ising systems due to random impurities.

Numerical renormalization-group study of low-lying eigenstates of the antiferromagnetic S=1 Heisenberg chain.

Experimental evidence for a first-order vortex-lattice-melting transition in untwinned, single crystal YBa2Cu3O7.