Publications

  • Random magnets – Disordered magnetic materials such as spin glasses have complex memory properties due to very slow dynamics. Understanding these dynamics and the thermodynamic landscape is the focus of these papers.
  • Algorithms – Papers on developing efficient computational methods (or proving that efficient methods don’t exist).
  • Elastic media in disordered environments – Papers concerned with the self-affine structure of elastic objects pinned by disorder.
  • Geometry of disorder – These papers focus on the fractal geometry of excitations in disordered systems and how this geometry affects the thermodynamics of a material.
  • Collective transport – The study of driven interacting particles through a disordered background. Includes transport of electronic condensates (charge density waves), elastic lines or interfaces, a very simple model of “traffic” (particles on a 2D grid), and incoherent tunneling of electrons on arrays of quantum dots.
  • Avalanches, mode locking, automata – These papers are primarily concerned with the response of unstable collections of particles to perturbations.
  • Others – vibrational modes in model glasses, light scattering, hydrodynamics of intersecting lines, particles, experimental nuclear physics, and education.

 

Random magnets

  1. “Extracting thermodynamic behavior of spin glasses from the overlap function”, A. Alan Middleton, Physical Review B 87, 220201(R) (2013);
    local: MiddletonPRB2013; preprint: cond-mat/1303.2253.
  2. “Zero and low temperature behavior of the two-dimensional $\pm J$ Ising spin glass”,
    Creighton K. Thomas, David A. Huse, A. Alan Middleton.
    Physical Review Letters 107, 047203 (2011).
    Please see publication (or local pdf copy) for final version;
    preprint archived as cond-mat/1103.1946.
  3. “Chaos and universality in two-dimensional Ising spin glasses”,
    Creighton K. Thomas, David A. Huse, A. Alan Middleton.
    Preprint archived as cond-mat/1012.3444.
  4. “Scaling, domains, and states in the four-dimensional random field Ising magnet”,
    A. Alan Middleton,
    Preprint archived as cond-mat/0208182; available as pdf preprint with both small and large figures.
  5. “The three-dimensional random field Ising magnet: interfaces, scaling, and the nature of states”,
    A. Alan Middleton and Daniel S. Fisher,
    Physical Review B 65, 134411 (2002).
    Please see publication (or local pdf copy or local ps copy) for final version;
    preprint archived as cond-mat/0107489.
  6. “Configuration Memory in Patchwork Dynamics for Low-dimensional Spin Glasses”,
    Jie Yang and A. Alan Middleton,
    Physical Review B 96, 214208 (2017) (local pdf copy) for final version;
    preprint archived as https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.09806v2.

Algorithms

  1. “Numerically exact correlations and sampling in the two-dimensional Ising spin glass”,
    Creighton K. Thomas and A. Alan Middleton.
    Physical Review E 87, 043303 (2013).
    Please see publication (or local pdf copy) for final version;
    preprint archived as cond-mat/1301.1252.
  2. “Exact algorithm for sampling the two-dimensional Ising spin glass”,
    Creighton K. Thomas, A. Alan Middleton.
    Physical Review E 80, 046708 (2009).
    Please see publication (10.1103/PhysRevE.80.046708)
    (or local pdf copy) for final version.
    Preprint archived as cond-mat/0906.5519.
  3. “Persistence and Memory in Patchwork Dynamics for Glassy Models”,
    Creighton K. Thomas, Olivia L. White, A. Alan Middleton,
    Physical Review B 77, 092415 (2008).
    Please see publication (10.1103/PhysRevB.77.092415)
    (or local pdf copy) for final version.
    Preprint archived as cond-mat/0708.0683.
  4. “Matching Kasteleyn Cities for Spin Glass Ground States”,
    Creighton K. Thomas, A. Alan Middleton,
    Physical Review B 76, 220406(R) (2007).
    Please see publication (10.1103/PhysRevB.76.220406)
    (or local pdf copy) for final version.
    Preprint archived as cond-mat/0706.2866.
  5. “Linking physics and algorithms in the random-field Ising model”,
    Jan H. Meinke and A. Alan Middleton,
    Preprint archived as cond-mat/0502471.
  6. “Racing downhill: optimization and the random-field Ising model”,
    D. Clay Hambrick, Jan H. Meinke, and A. Alan Middleton,
    Preprint archived as cond-mat/0501269.
  7. “Counting States and Counting Operations”,
    A. Alan Middleton.
    Chapter 5 (pp. 71-100) in New Optimization Algorithms in Physics,
    Eds. Hartmann and Rieger, Wiley-VCH (2004).
  8. “Improved extremal optimization for the Ising spin glass”,
    A. Alan Middleton.
    Physical Review E 69, 055701 (2004).
    Please see publication (or local pdf copy or local ps copy) for final version;
    preprint archived as cond-mat/0402295 (local pdf or ps also available).
  9. “Percolation of unsatisfiability in finite dimensions”,
    J. M. Schwarz and A. Alan Middleton,
    Physical Review E 70, 035103(R) (4pp., 2004).
    Please see publication (or local pdf copy or local gzipped ps copy) for final version;
    preprint archived as cond-mat/0309240; preprint available locally as ps or pdf.
  10. “Critical slowing down in polynomial time algorithms”,
    A. Alan Middleton,
    Physical Review Letters 88, 017202 (2002).
    Please see publication (or local pdf copy or local ps copy) for final version;
    preprint archived as cond-mat/0104185.
  11. “Computational Complexity of Determining the Barriers to Interface Motion in Random Systems”,
    Physical Review E 59, 2571-2577 (1999).
    A. Alan Middleton.
    Please see publication (or local pdf copy) for final version;
    preprint archived as cond-mat/9902203.

Elastic media in disordered environments

  1. “Measuring functional renormalization group fixed-point functions for pinned manifolds”,
    A. Alan Middleton, P. Le Doussal, and K. J. Wiese,
    Physical Review Letters 98, 155701 (2007).
    Please see publication (or local pdf copy or local ps copy) for final version;
    preprint archived as cond-mat/0606160.
  2. “Disorder-Induced Topological Defects in a d=2 Elastic Medium at Zero Temperature”,
    Physical Review B 61, 14787-14790 (2000).
    A. Alan Middleton.
    Please see publication (or local pdf copy) for final version;
    preprint archived as cond-mat/9807374.
  3. “Simulation of the Zero Temperature Behavior of a 3-Dimensional Elastic Medium”,
    Phys. Rev. B 60, 10062-10069 (1999).
    David McNamara, A. Alan Middleton, Chen Zeng.
    Please see publication (or local pdf copy) for final version;
    preprint archived as cond-mat/9905058.
  4. “Ground-State Roughness of the Disordered Substrate and Flux Line in d=2”,
    Physical Review Letters 77, 3204-3207 (1996).
    Chen Zeng, A. Alan Middleton, Y. Shapir.
    Please see publication (or local pdf copy) for final version;
    preprint archived as cond-mat/9609029.
  5. “Numerical Results for the Ground-State Interface in a Random Medium”,
    Physical Review E52, R3337 (1995).
    A. Alan Middleton.
    Please see publication (or local pdf copy) for final version;
    preprint archived as cond-mat/9507130.

Geometry of disorder

  1. “Minimal spanning trees at the percolation threshold: a numerical calculation”,
    Sean M. Sweeney and A. Alan Middleton,
    Physical Review E 88, 032129 (2013).
    Please see publication (10.1103/PhysRevE.88.032129)
    (or local pdf copy) for final version.
    Preprint is archived as 1307.0043 at arxiv.org.
  2. “Are Domain Walls in Spin Glasses Described by Stochastic Loewner Evolutions?”,
    D. Bernard, P. Le Doussal, and A. Alan Middleton,
    Physical Review B 76, 020403(R) (2007).
    Please see publication (10.1103/PhysRevB.76.020403)
    (or local pdf copy) for final version.
    Preprint is archived as cond-mat/0611433.
  3. “Energetics and geometry of excitations in random systems”,
    A. Alan Middleton,
    Phys. Rev. B 63, 060202(R) (2001) (4 pages);
    Please see publication (or local pdf copy) for final version;
    preprint archived as cond-mat/0007375.
  4. “Numerical investigation of the thermodynamic limit for ground states in models with quenched disorder”.
    Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 1672-1675 (1999).
    A. Alan Middleton.
    Please see publication (or local pdf copy) for final version;
    preprint archived as cond-mat/9904285.
  5. “Statistical Topography of Glassy Interfaces”,
    Physical Review Letters 80, 109-112 (1998).
    Chen Zeng, Jane’ Kondev, David McNamara, and A. Alan Middleton.
    Please see publication for final version;
    preprint archived as cond-mat/9709092.

Collective transport

  1. “Mean Field Theory of Collective Transport with Phase Slips”,
    Karl Saunders, J. M. Schwarz, M. Cristina Marchetti, A. Alan Middleton.
    Physical Review B 70, 024205 (2004).
    Please see publication (or local pdf copy or local gzipped ps copy) for final version;
    preprint archived as cond-mat/0311259 (local pdf or ps.gz also available).
  2. “Viscoelastic Depinning of Driven Systems: Mean-Field Plastic Scallops”,
    Physical Review Letters 85, 1104-1107 (2000).
    M. Cristina Marchetti, A. Alan Middleton, Thomas Prellberg.
    Please see publication (or local pdf copy) for final version;
    preprint archived as cond-mat/9912461.
  3. “Effects of Disorder on Electron Transport in Arrays of Quantum Dots”
    Shantenu Jha and A. Alan Middleton
    Preprint archived as cond-mat/0511094.
  4. “Vortex Dynamics and Defects in Simulated Flux Flow”,
    Physical Review B 54, 12427-12436 (1996).
    Michael C. Faleski, M. Cristina Marchetti, and A. Alan Middleton.
    Please see publication (or local pdf copy) for final version;
    preprint archived as cond-mat/9605053.
  5. “Avalanches and the renormalization group for pinned charge-density waves”,
    Physical Review B 49, 244 (1994).
    Onuttom Narayan and A. Alan Middleton.
    Please see publication for final version;
    preprint archived as cond-mat/9305023.
  6. “Self-Organization and a Dynamical Transition in Traffic-flow Models,”
    Physical Review A 46, R6124 (1993).
    Ofer Biham, A. Alan Middleton, and Dov Levine.
    Please see publication for final version;
    preprint archived as cond-mat/9206001.
  7. “Collective Transport in Arrays of Small Metallic Dots”,
    Physical Review Letters 71, 3198 (1993).
    A. Alan Middleton and Ned S. Wingreen.
    Please see publication for final version;
    preprint archived as cond-mat/9304013.
  8. “Scaling Near Mode Locking in a Charge Density Wave Conductor”,
    Physical Review Letters 70, 3784 (1993).
    Mark J. Higgins, A. Alan Middleton, and S. Bhattacharya.
  9. “Critical Behavior of Charge Density Waves Below Threshold: Numerical and Scaling Analysis”,
    Physical Review B 47, 3530 (1993).
    A. Alan Middleton and D. S. Fisher.
    Please see publication for final version;
    preprint archived as cond-mat/9207027.
  10. “Thermal Rounding of the Charge Density Wave Depinning Transition,”
    Physical Review B 45, 9465 (1992).
    A. Alan Middleton.
    Please see publication for final version;
    preprint archived as cond-mat/9205011.
  11. “Elastic String in a Random Potential,”
    Physical Review Letters 70, 662 (1993).
    M. Dong, A. Alan Middleton, M. Cristina Marchetti, and Valerii Vinokur.
    Please see publication for final version;
    preprint archived as cond-mat/9205010.
  12. “Asymptotic Uniqueness of the Sliding State for Charge Density Waves,”
    Physical Review Letters 68, 670 (1992).
    A. Alan Middleton.
  13. Reply to comment on “Critical Behavior of Pinned Charge-Density Waves below the Threshold for Sliding,”
    Physical Review Letters 67, 3873(1991).
    A. Alan Middleton, Daniel S. Fisher, and Peter B. Littlewood.
  14. “Critical Behavior of Pinned Charge-Density Waves below the Threshold for Sliding,”
    Physical Review Letters 66, 92 (1991).
    A. Alan Middleton and Daniel S. Fisher.

Avalanches, modelocking, and automata

  1. “Irrational mode locking in quasiperiodic systems”,
    Creighton K. Thomas, A. Alan Middleton,
    Physical Review Letters 98, 148001 (2007).
    Please see publication (or local pdf copy or local ps copy) for final version;
    preprint archived as cond-mat/0607211.
  2. “Statistics of static avalanches in a random pinning landscape”,
    Pierre Le Doussal, A. Alan Middleton, Kay Joerg Wiese,
    Physical Review E 79, 050101 (2009).
    Please see publication (10.1103/PhysRevE.79.050101)
    (or local pdf copy) for final version.
    Preprint archived as cond-mat/0803.1142.
  3. “Driven depinning of strongly disordered media and anisotropic mean-field limits”,
    M. Cristina Marchetti, A. Alan Middleton, Karl Saunders, J. M. Schwarz.
    Physical Review Letters 91, 107002 (2003).
    Please see publication (or local pdf copy or local gzipped ps copy) for final version;
    preprint archived as cond-mat/0302275.
  4. “Self-Organized criticality in non-conserved systems”,
    Physical Review Letters 74, 742 (1995).
    A. Alan Middleton and Chao Tang.
    Please see publication for final version;
    preprint archived as cond-mat/9407082.
  5. “Complete Mode-locking in Models of Charge-density Waves,”
    Physical Review Letters 68, 1586 (1992).
    A. Alan Middleton, Ofer Biham, Peter B. Littlewood, and Paolo Sibani.

Others

  1. Work led by Ethan Stanifer on vibrational modes in linear and cross-connected networks:
    “Simple random matrix model for the vibrational spectrum of structural glasses,”
    Physical Review E 98, 042908 (2018). (local pdf copy, arxiv.org/abs/1804.04074)
    E. Stanifer, P. K. Morse, A. A. Middleton, and M. L. Manning.
  2. This paper is my favorite uncited paper. There may be applications of these hydrodynamic equations to chains of ferro(electr)(magnet)ic particles or vortex lines:
    “Dynamics of Directed Polymers with Cutting Interactions,”
    Physical Review A 45, 7288 (1992).
    Sergei E. Esipov and A. Alan Middleton.
  3. An application of Monte Carlo algorithms to connect experimental parameters:
    “Discrete Scatterers and Autocorrelations of Multiply Scattered Light,”
    Physical Review B 43, 5934 (1991).
    A. Alan Middleton and Daniel S. Fisher.
  4. A summer spent on nuclear physics in the basement of Jadwin hall:
    “11B(a,p)14C* (Ex = 23.288 MeV) reaction and (p,\pi+) production mechanisms,”
    Physical Review C 38, 1958 (1988).
    L. K. Herold, K. E. Luther, A. A. Middleton, M. L. Pitt, and J. D. Brown.
  5. Lattice gauge theory (programming from California to Edinburgh over a 300 baud modem):
    “The Deconfining Transition for Finite-temperature U(1) Lattice Gauge Theory in (2+1) Dimensions,”
    Physics Letters B175, 64 (1986).
    P. Coddington, A. Hey, A. A. Middleton, and J. Townsend.