On the number of ground states of the Edwards-Anderson spin glass model (Q2438253)

The Edwards-Anderson model of the spin glass is studied on an infinite graph of finite degree. The existence of a nonempty set of ground states is anticipated, and actually, an earlier result, that for the half-plane case the number of ground states is two, is a departure point for the present analysis. The entire set of ground states on the infinite graph is investigated and a proof is given that the number of ground states must be two or infinite. In the first part of the paper, tools are developed to prove the analogous result on \(\mathbb{Z}^d\). A correspondence of the Edwards-Anderson model with a first-passage percolation problem and that of the existence of infinite geodesics is outlined. The latter issue is explored in the companion paper [\textit{M. Damron} and \textit{J. Hanson}, Commun. Math. Phys. 325, No. 3, 917--963 (2014; Zbl 1293.82014)].