Low-temperature spin dynamics can become trapped in long-lived patterns shaped by the geometry of the interaction network. We introduce Chladni states, the binary spin configurations obtained by applying the sign function to Laplacian eigenmodes, and show that their Ising energy collapses onto a size-independent spectral curve in ferromagnets and frustrated antiferromagnets. This graph-spectral decomposition reconstructs frozen configurations, tracks memory of initial conditions, and detects, through the number of modes it requires, the loss of mesoscopic order in frustrated and spin-glass regimes. Finally, in spin-glass instances, a restricted search over low signed-Laplacian modes reaches energies comparable to those of simulated annealing while exploring a space of far smaller dimension.

Close

PrevNext

View figure in article

• Classical statistical mechanics
• Frustrated magnetism
• Magnetic order
• Nonequilibrium statistical mechanics
• Phase transitions
• Classical spin models
• Complex networks
• Lattice models in statistical physics
• Ising model
• Monte Carlo methods
• Spin lattice models