ABSTRACT
Now that we have toured the main spin-glass experiments, listed the various materials and scanned the highlights of the theory, how close can we relate theory to experiment on the most ideal systems? We do not wish to make a detailed comparison of every aspect, but chiefly to show which models can be mimicked by experiment and whether their predictions are valid especially regarding the freezing transition. Remember we have our experimentalist’s rendition of the basic phenomenon: growing and freezing clusters with a broad and shifting distribution of relaxation times. Theory, if it is correct, can take us much further with a quantitative description of experiment and the predictions of new effects. Once we gain a sufficient rapport between the two, experimentation and theory, the problem is solved and the physics is said to be understood. However, for the spin glasses the full solution has not yet been attained. There is no complete quantitative comparison or detailed set of predictions directly relating to experiment. Great progress has indeed been made and is continuing with the various models and calculations, particularly the computer simulations. On the other hand, the majority of the measurements have been performed on systems which are too complicated and greatly differ from the simplified theoretical models. So how can you expect to compare experiments on a complex material with an idealized theory?
