Dynamics of ghost domains in spin-glasses

We revisit the problem of how spin-glasses 'heal' after being exposed to tortuous perturbations by the temperature/bond chaos effects in temperature/bond cycling protocols. Revised scaling arguments suggest that the amplitude of the order parameter within ghost domains recovers very slowly, compared with the rate it is reduced by the strong perturbations. The parallel evolution of the order parameter and the size of the ghost domains can be examined in simulations and experiments by measurements of a memory autocorrelation function which exhibits a 'memory peak' at the timescale of the age imprinted in the ghost domains. These expectations are confirmed by Monte Carlo simulations of an Edwards-Anderson Ising spin-glass model.