Escape from Metastability via Aging: Non-Equilibrium Dynamics in a One- Dimensional Ising Model

The non-equilibrium dynamics of a one-dimensional Ising model with uniform, short-ranged three-spin interactions is investigated. It is shown that this model possesses an exponentially large number of metastable configurations that are stable against single spin flips. This glass-like situation results in a complete freezing of the system at low temperatures for times smaller than an intrinsic time-scale, which diverges exponentially with inverse temperature. Via thermal activation the system eventually escapes from this frozen state, which is signals the onset of aging by domain growth.