  Abstract We present finite-temperature Monte Carlo studies of a 2D
random-anisotropy magnet on lattices containing one million spins. The
correlated spin-glass state predicted by analytical theories is reproduced in
simulations, as are the field-cooled and zero-field-cooled magnetization curves
observed in experiments. The orientations of lattice spins begin to freeze when
the temperature is lowered. The freezing transition is due to the energy
barriers generated by the random anisotropy rather than due to random
interactions in conventional spin-glasses. We describe freezing by introducing
the time-dependent spin-glass order parameter $q$ and the spin-melting time
$\tau_{M}$ defined via $q=\tau_{M}/t$ above freezing, where t is the time of
the experiment represented by the number of Monte Carlo steps.
