Domain-wall free energy of spin-glass models: Numerical method and boundary conditions

An efficient Monte Carlo method is extended to evaluate directly domain-wall free energy for randomly frustrated spin systems. Using the method, critical phenomena of spin-glass phase transition are investigated in the 4d+/-J Ising model under the replica boundary condition. Our values of the critical temperature and exponent, obtained by finite-size scaling, are in good agreement with those of the standard Monte Carlo and the series expansion studies. In addition, two exponents, the stiffness exponent and the fractal dimension of the domain wall, which characterize the ordered phase, are obtained. The latter value is larger than d-1, indicating that the domain wall is really rough in the 4d Ising spin-glass phase. [S1063-651X(99)01810-3].