THE METASTABLE BEHAVIOR OF THE 3-DIMENSIONAL STOCHASTIC ISING-MODEL .2.

The metastable behavior of the stochastic Ising model is studied in a finite three-dimensional torus, in the limit as the temperature goes t o zero. The so-called critical droplet is determined, a clear view of the passage from the configuration that all spins are down (-1) to the configuration that all spins are up (+1) is given and the logarithmic asymptotics of the hitting time of +1 starting at -1 or vice versa is calculated. The proof uses large deviation estimates of a family of e xponentially perturbed Markov chains.