Metastable states and information propagation in a 1D array of locally-coupled bistable cells

TL;DR

This paper investigates how metastable states influence relaxation and information transfer in a one-dimensional array of locally coupled bistable cells, highlighting their inevitability and the role of thermal effects.

Contribution

It demonstrates that metastable states are unavoidable even in simple structures and analyzes their impact on relaxation times using a quantum dot array model.

Findings

Metastable states are inevitable in simple wire structures.

Relaxation times depend on coupling parameters and temperature.

Thermally assisted random walk governs the relaxation process.

Abstract

We study the effect of metastable states on the relaxation process (and hence information propagation) in locally coupled and boundary-driven structures. We first give a general argument to show that metastable states are inevitable even in the simplest of structures, a wire. At finite temperatures, the relaxation mechanism is a thermally assisted random walk. The time required to reach the ground state and its life time are determined by the coupling parameters. These time scales are studied in a model based on an array of quantum dots.