Replica symmetry breaking at arbitrary depth

Source abstract

We study finite-step replica symmetry breaking (RSB) in mixed even $p$-spin Ising spin glasses at positive temperature and zero external field. For every integer $k\geq1$, we construct finite polynomial mixtures whose Parisi measures are exactly $k$-RSB, with each such phase persisting on an open set of coefficients. More generally, for any admissible finite polynomial covariance $Ξ$ with a nondegenerate $r$-RSB Parisi measure, adding $λq^p$ for sufficiently large even $p$ produces, as $λ$ varies near a critical value, a unique $r$-RSB-to-$(r+1)$-RSB transition. Since such covariances exist at every finite RSB depth, this yields transitions of arbitrary depth. The main idea of the proof is that for large $p$, the perturbation $λq^p$ is negligible for overlaps bounded away from $1$, while its effect is concentrated at overlaps very close to $1$.