Phase transitions in the Potts spin glass model

Abstract

We have studied the Potts spin glass with 2-state Ising spins and s-state Potts variables using a cluster Monte Carlo dynamics. The model recovers the +- J Ising spin glass (SG) for s=1 and exhibits for all s a SG transition at T_{SG}(s) and a percolation transition at higher temperature T_p(s). We have shown that for all values of $s\neq 1$ at T_p(s) there is a thermodynamical transition in the universality class of a ferromagnetic s-state Potts model. The efficiency of the cluster dynamics is compared with that of standard spin flip dynamics.