Glassy Potts model: A disordered Potts model without a ferromagnetic phase

We introduce a Potts model with quenched, frustrated disorder, which enjoys a gauge symmetry that forbids spontaneous magnetization and allows the gla ssy phase to extend from T-c down to T = 0. We study numerically the four-d imensional model with q = 4 states. We show the existence of a glassy phase , and we characterize it by studying the probability distributions of an or der parameter, the binder cumulant, and the divergence of the overlap susce ptibility. We show that the dynamical behavior of the system is characteriz ed by aging. [S0163-1829(99)10013-4].