Extensive equilibrium Monte Carlo simulations are performed for a three-dimensional Heisenberg spin glass with the nearest-neighbor Gaussian coupling to investigate its spin-glass and chiral-glass orderings. The occurrence of a finite-temperature chiral-glass transition without the conventional spin-glass order is established. Critical exponents characterizing the transition are different from those of the standard Ising spin glass. The calculated overlap distribution suggests the appearance of a peculiar type of replica-symmetry breaking in the chiral-glass ordered state.

• Received 17 May 1999

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.61.R1008