Spin Glasses: Old and New Complexity

TL;DR

This paper reviews the fundamental concepts of spin glasses, explores their applications across various fields, and discusses recent developments leading to a new understanding of complexity in these systems.

Contribution

It introduces a distinction between traditional and emerging concepts of complexity derived from spin glass studies, proposing a new framework for understanding complex systems.

Findings

Spin glasses exhibit properties characteristic of complex systems.

Applications of spin glasses extend to computer science, biology, and beyond.

Recent studies suggest a new form of complexity in spin glasses.

Abstract

Spin glasses are disordered magnetic systems that exhibit a variety of properties that are characteristic of complex systems. After a brief review of basic spin glass concepts, their use in areas such as computer science, biology, and other fields will be explored. This use and its underlying basis will be termed old complexity. Newer concepts and ideas flowing from more recent studies of spin glasses will then be discussed, leading to a proposal for a kind of new complexity.