Equilibrium and metastability in the Shore–Sethna model

The Shore–Sethna model is one of the simplest spin models including frustration at microscopic level. It consists of a three-dimensional system of Ising spins with ferromagnetic nearest-neighbors and antiferromagnetic next-nearest-neighbors interactions, and the competition between these two interactions gives place to the appearance of complex dynamical behaviors. In this work we analyze some thermodynamical aspects of the model using Monte Carlo numerical simulations. In particular, we study the ground states of the model and present a detailed phase diagram, analyzing also the nature of the different phase transitions. We finally show the existence of a rich structure of metastable states at very low temperatures.