Ground states of the three-dimensional Edwards-Anderson spin glass are computed in the presence of an external magnetic field. Our algorithm is sufficiently powerful for us to treat systems with up to 600 spins. We consider how the ground state changes as the field is increased; the statistical analysis of these changes indicates that the spin glass phase at zero temperature does not survive in the presence of any finite field. This is in agreement with the droplet model or scaling predictions, but in disagreement with the mean field picture. For comparison, we also investigate a dilute mean field spin glass model where an Almeida-Thouless line is clearly present.

• Received 18 November 1998

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.82.4934