Field-Tuned Order by Disorder in Frustrated Ising Magnets with Antiferromagnetic Interactions.

We demonstrate the appearance of thermal order by disorder in Ising pyrochlores with staggered antiferromagnetic order frustrated by an applied magnetic field. We use a mean-field cluster variational method, a low-temperature expansion, and Monte Carlo simulations to characterize the order-by-disorder transition. By direct evaluation of the density of states, we quantitatively show how a symmetry-broken state is selected by thermal excitations. We discuss the relevance of our results to experiments in 2D and 3D samples and evaluate how anomalous finite-size effects could be exploited to detect this phenomenon experimentally in two-dimensional artificial systems, or in antiferromagnetic all-in-all-out pyrochlores like Nd_{2}Hf_{2}O_{7} or Nd_{2}Zr_{2}O_{7}, for the first time.

Level Statistics and Localization Transitions of Lévy Matrices.

This work provides a thorough study of Lévy, or heavy-tailed, random matrices (LMs). By analyzing the self-consistent equation on the probability distribution of the diagonal elements of the resolvent we establish the equation determining the localization transition and obtain the phase diagram. Using arguments based on supersymmetric field theory and Dyson Brownian motion we show that the eigenvalue statistics is the same one as of the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble in the whole delocalized phase and is Poisson-like in the localized phase. Our numerics confirm these findings, valid in the limit of infinitely large LMs, but also reveal that the characteristic scale governing finite size effects diverges much faster than a power law approaching the transition and is already very large far from it. This leads to a very wide crossover region in which the system looks as if it were in a mixed phase. Our results, together with the ones obtained previously, now provide a complete theory of Lévy matrices.

Glass phenomenology from the connection to spin glasses.

Typical features of glass phenomenology such as the Vogel-Fulcher law, the Kauzmann paradox, and the Adam-Gibbs relationship are shown to follow from the recently discovered mapping of glasses to Ising spin glasses in a magnetic field. There seems to be sufficient universality near the glass transition temperature T{g} such that study of the spin-glass system can provide semiquantitative results for supercooled liquids.

Columnar and lamellar phases in attractive colloidal systems.

In colloidal suspensions, at low volume fraction and temperature, dynamical arrest occurs via the growth of elongated structures that aggregate to form a connected network at gelation. Here we show that, in the region of parameter space where gelation occurs, the stable thermodynamical phase is a crystalline columnar one. Near and above the gelation threshold, the disordered spanning network slowly evolves and finally orders to form the crystalline structure. At higher volume fractions the stable phase is a lamellar one, which seems to have a still longer ordering time.

Size segregation in granular media induced by phase transition.

In order to study analytically the nature of the size segregation in granular mixtures, we introduce a mean field theory in the framework of a statistical mechanics approach, based on Edwards' original ideas. For simplicity we apply the theory to a lattice model for a hard sphere binary mixture under gravity, and we find a new purely thermodynamic mechanism that gives rise to the size segregation phenomenon. By varying the number of small grains and the mass ratio, we find a crossover from the Brazil nut to the reverse Brazil nut effect, which becomes a true phase transition when the number of small grains is larger then a critical value. We suggest that this transition is induced by the effective attraction between large grains due to the presence of small ones (depletion force). Finally the theoretical results are confirmed by numerical simulations of the 3d system under taps.

Jamming transition in granular media: a mean-field approximation and numerical simulations.

In order to study analytically the nature of the jamming transition in granular material, we have considered a cavity method mean-field theory, in the framework of a statistical mechanics approach, based on Edwards' original idea. For simplicity, we have applied the theory to a lattice model, and a transition with exactly the same nature of the glass transition in mean-field models for usual glass formers is found. The model is also simulated in three dimensions under tap dynamics, and a jamming transition with glassy features is observed. In particular, two-step decays appear in the relaxation functions and dynamic heterogeneities resembling ones usually observed in glassy systems. These results confirm early speculations about the connection between the jamming transition in granular media and the glass transition in usual glass formers, giving moreover a precise interpretation of its nature.

Lattice glass model with no tendency to crystallize.

We study a lattice model with two-body interactions that reproduces in three dimensions many features of structural glasses, such as cage effect and vanishing diffusivity. While having a crystalline state at low temperatures, it does not crystallize when quenched, even at the slowest cooling rate used, which makes it suitable to study the glass transition. We study the model on the Bethe lattice as well, and find a scenario typical of p-spin models, as in the Biroli-Mézard model.

Monodisperse model suitable to study the glass transition.

We study the properties of a monodisperse lattice glass model with a simple geometrical interpretation, which reproduces many features of glass forming liquids, such as the cage effect, vanishing diffusivity, and the presence of two time scales in relaxation functions. The model has a crystalline ground state at high density, but has no tendency to crystallize when quenched, even at extremely low cooling rates, which makes it suitable for the study of the glass transition. We study the model in mean field on random regular graphs, finding a scenario analogous to p-spin models.