Return to return point memory

Abstract

We describe a new class of systems exhibiting return point memory (RPM), different from those discussed before in the context of ferromagnets. We show numerically that one-dimensional random Ising antiferromagnets have exact RPM when evolving from a large field, but not when started at finite field, unlike the ferromagnetic case. This implies that the standard approach to understanding ferromagnetic RPM will fail for this case. We also demonstrate RPM with a set of variables that keeps track of spin flips at each site. Conventional RPM for the spins is a projection of this result, suggesting that spin flip variables might be a more fundamental representation of the dynamics. We also present a mapping that embeds the antiferromagnetic chain in a two-dimensional ferromagnet, and prove RPM for spin-exchange dynamics in the interior of the chain with this mapping.