Stability of the quantum Sherrington-Kirkpatrick spin glass model

Abstract

We study in detail the quantum Sherrington-Kirkpatrick (SK) model, i.e. the infinite-range Ising spin glass in a transverse field, by solving numerically the effective one-dimensional model that the quantum SK model can be mapped to in the thermodynamic limit. We find that the replica symmetric (RS) solution is unstable down to zero temperature, in contrast to some previous claims, and so there is not only a line of transitions in the (longitudinal) field-temperature plane (the de Almeida-Thouless, AT, line) where replica symmetry is broken, but also a quantum de Almeida-Thouless (QuAT) line in the transverse field-longitudinal field plane at $T = 0$. If the QuAT line also occurs in models with short-range interactions its presence might affect the performance of quantum annealers when solving spin glass-type problems with a bias (i.e. magnetic field).