Statistical Physics of Spin Glasses and Information Processing

Spin glasses are magnetic materials. Statistical mechanics, a subfield of physics, has been a powerful tool to theoretically analyse various unique properties of spin glasses. A number of new analytical techniques have been developed to establish a theory of spin glasses. Surprisingly, these techniques have turned out to offer new tools and viewpoints for the understanding of information processing problems, including neural networks, error-correcting codes, image restoration, and optimization problems. This book is one of the first publications of the past ten years that provide a broad overview of this interdisciplinary field. Most of the book is written in a self-contained manner, assuming only a general knowledge of statistical mechanics and basic probability theory. It provides the reader with a sound introduction to the field and to the analytical techniques necessary to follow its most recent developments.