Spin Glasses and Complexity

by Daniel L. Stein, Charles M. Newman

Spin glasses are disordered magnetic systems that have led to the development of mathematical tools with an array of real-world applications, from airline scheduling to neural networks. Spin Glasses and Complexity offers the most concise, engaging, and accessible introduction to the subject, fully explaining what spin glasses are, why they are important, and how they are opening up new ways of thinking about complexity.


This one-of-a-kind guide to spin glasses begins by explaining the fundamentals of order and symmetry in condensed matter physics and how spin glasses fit into--and modify--this framework. It then explores how spin-glass concepts and ideas have found applications in areas as diverse as computational complexity, biological and artificial neural networks, protein folding, immune response maturation, combinatorial optimization, and social network modeling.


Providing an essential overview of the history, science, and growing significance of this exciting field, S pin Glasses and Complexity also features a forward-looking discussion of what spin glasses may teach us in the future about complex systems. This is a must-have book for students and practitioners in the natural and social sciences, with new material even for the experts.

Genres: Physics, Science, Mathematics

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Abhinav Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spin glasses are hard to be analysed theoretically by scientists. Why should this matter to, let us say, a computer scientist, or a biologist? As it turns out, spin glasses are typical "complex systems" (whatever that means). We are surrounded by complex systems such as social networks, computer networks, confused salesperson, etc. The progress made in the study of spin glasses helped in the study of such varied fields and it promises much more.
One half of the noble prize in physics for 2021 was given to Georgio Parisi for the study of spin glasses. This book is a lightweight introduction to the progress made in the study of spin glasses.
The authors do not shy away from using some equations to provide an adequate understanding of the subject matter. The writing is clear. A curios reader will enjoy the story of the progress in three field and marvel at the universality of wide variety of systems. There are many references to interesting articles and books on related topics at the end.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Hope you will too.
Happy reading

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very clear introduction and review of the subject. Recommend to any scientific researcher in the field of complexity. Not a pop science book but is probably accessible to readers with a solid college degree.

[William Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice
I will have to look more into Hopfield Networks

[Devansh Bisla · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very lightweight introduction to the theory of spin glasses. This book is perfect if you don't have a physics background and want to learn about spin glasses.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've loved every book in the Princeton/SFI "Primers in Complex Systems" series, and this one holds up the tradition. Each one provides a curated review targeting some sub-domain of the massive world of complex systems, and they generally do a terrific job balancing technical, domain-specific exposition with accessible, multi-disciplinary examples and wider blue-sky speculation on the open questions and implications.

I picked this one up as a replacement for an introductory spin glass textbook when I started working on a new (social science) research project. While certain parts seemed of primarily technical interest from my point of view, particularly chapter 7 (on various scenarios for the local-interaction EA model), I found it thoroughly engaging and useful in getting acquainted with the basic flavor of the spin glass literature. For example, I'd often encountered "broken symmetry" arguments from physicists and never really understood their significance until reading this. One minor quibble: I was really hoping for some coverage of coarse-graining and the renormalization group approach, which I understood to be an important part of the 'hierarchical organization' story, but I now feel equipped to delve into those papers on my own!