Cluster-quench simulation of the two-dimensional random Ising model

Abstract

A simulation technique is introduced which generated states stable against spin reversal of all spin clusters of n or fewer spins. The distribution of energy barriers for reversing m-spin clusters (m>n) and the distribution of energy gained are computed. The results are interpreted using a renormalisation-group picture with n^1/2 as the length scale. The data scale with correlation length exponent nu =2.6 and an average energy barrier increasing approximately as 1-n^{-1/2 nu} . These results provide a detailed test of the phenomenological scaling theory of spin glasses.