Eur. Phys. J. B 72, 619-627 (2009)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2009-00410-2

Low-energy excitations in the three-dimensional random-field Ising model

¹ Institute of Theoretical Physics, University of Göttingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
² Max-Planck Institut fof Physics of Complex Systems, 01187 Dresden, Germany
³ Institute of Physics, University of Oldenburg, 26111 Oldenburg, Germany

Corresponding author: ^a a.hartmann@uni-oldenburg.de

Received: 28 July 2009
Revised: 27 October 2009
Published online: 4 December 2009

Abstract

The random-field Ising model (RFIM), one of the basic models for quenched disorder, can be studied numerically with the help of efficient ground-state algorithms. In this study, we extend these algorithm by various methods in order to analyze low-energy excitations for the three-dimensional RFIM with Gaussian distributed disorder that appear in the form of clusters of connected spins. We analyze several properties of these clusters. Our results support the validity of the droplet-model description for the RFIM.