DYNAMIC BEHAVIOR OF A SPIN-1 ISING-MODEL - I - RELAXATION OF ORDER PARAMETERS AND THE FLATNESS PROPERTY OF METASTABLE STATES

The dynamic behavior of a spin-1 Ising system with arbitrary bilinear and biquadratic pair interactions is studied by using the path probabi lity method, and approaches of the system toward the stable oi metasta ble equilibrium slates according to the ratio of interaction parameter s and rate constants are presented. In particular, we investigate the relaxation of the order parameters for temperatures less than, equal t o, and greater than the second-order and first-order phase transitions . From this investigation, the ''flatness'' property of metastable sta tes is seen explicitly. We also show how a system freezes in a metasta ble state as well as how it escapes from one metastable state to the o ther.