Free-energy bounds for hierarchical spin models

In this paper we study two non-mean-field (NMF) spin models built on a hierarchical lattice: the hierarchical Edward–Anderson model (HEA) of a spin glass, and Dyson’s hierarchical model (DHM) of a ferromagnet. For the HEA, we prove the existence of the thermodynamic limit of the free energy and the replica-symmetry-breaking (RSB) free-energy bounds previously derived for the Sherrington–Kirkpatrick model of a spin glass. These RSB mean-field bounds are exact only if the order-parameter fluctuations (OPF) vanish: given that such fluctuations are not negligible in NMF models, we develop a novel strategy to tackle part of OPF in hierarchical models. The method is based on absorbing part of OPF of a block of spins into an effective Hamiltonian of the underlying spin blocks. We illustrate this method for DHM and show that, compared to the mean-field bound for the free energy, it provides a tighter NMF bound, with a critical temperature closer to the exact one. To extend this method to the HEA model, a suitable generalization of Griffith’s correlation inequalities for Ising ferromagnets is needed: since correlation inequalities for spin glasses are still an open topic, we leave the extension of this method to hierarchical spin glasses as a future perspective.