Simplicity of state and overlap structure in finite-volume realistic spin glasses

We present a combination of heuristic and rigorous arguments indicating that both the pure state structure and the overlap structure of realistic spin glasses should be relatively simple: in a large finite volume with coupling-independent boundary conditions, such as periodic, at most a pair of flip-related (or the appropriate number of symmetry-related in the non-Ising case) states appear, and the Parisi overlap distribution correspondingly exhibits at most a pair of delta functions at +/- q(EA). This rules out the nonstandard mean-field picture introduced by us earlier, and when combined with our previous elimination of more standard versions of the mean-field picture, argues against the possibility of even limited versions of mean-field ordering in realistic spin glasses. If broken spin-flip symmetry should occur, this leaves open two main possibilities for ordering in the spin glass phase: the droplet-scaling two-state picture, and the chaotic pairs many-state picture introduced by us earlier. We present scaling arguments which provide a possible physical basis for the latter picture, and discuss possible reasons behind numerical observations of more complicated overlap structures in finite volumes. [S1063-651X(98)07202-X].