Random-field Ising model: Insight from zero-temperature simulations

Abstract: We enlighten some critical aspects of the three-dimensional ($d=3$) random-field Ising model from simulations performed at zero temperature. We consider two different, in terms of the field distribution, versions of model, namely a Gaussian random-field Ising model and an equal-weight trimodal random-field Ising model. By implementing a computational approach that maps the ground-state of the system to the maximum-flow optimization problem of a network, we employ the most up-to-date version of the push-relabel algorithm and simulate large ensembles of disorder realizations of both models for a broad range of random-field values and systems sizes $\mathcal{V}=L\times L\times L$, where $L$ denotes linear lattice size and $L_{\rm max}=156$. Using as finite-size measures the sample-to-sample fluctuations of various quantities of physical and technical origin, and the primitive operations of the push-relabel algorithm, we propose, for both types of distributions, estimates of the critical field $h_{\rm c}$ and the critical exponent $\nu$ of the correlation length, the latter clearly suggesting that both models share the same universality class. Additional simulations of the Gaussian random-field Ising model at the best-known value of the critical field provide the magnetic exponent ratio $\beta/\nu$ with high accuracy and clear out the controversial issue of the critical exponent $\alpha$ of the specific heat. Finally, we discuss the infinite-limit size extrapolation of energy- and order-parameter-based noise to signal ratios related to the self-averaging properties of the model, as well as the critical slowing down aspects of the algorithm.