Statistical Physics of Spin Glasses and Information Processing: An Introduction

This title explores statistical physics of spin glasses and information processing. This book is intended for graduate students and researchers in theoretical condensed matter physics.
Spin glasses are magnetic materials. Statistical mechanics, a subfield of physics, has been a powerful tool to theoretically analyze various unique properties of spin glasses. A number of new analytical techniques have been developed to establish a theory of spin glasses. Surprisingly, these techniques have turned out to offer new tools and viewpoints for the understanding of information processing problems, including neural networks, error-correcting codes, image restoration, and optimization problems This book provides a broad overview of this interdisciplinary field. Most of the book is written in a self-contained manner, assuming only a general knowledge of statistical mechanics and basic probability theory. It provides the reader with a sound introduction to the field and to the analytical techniques necessary to follow its most recent developments. It is intended for graduate students and researchers in theoretical condensed matter physics and statistical mechanics.