Topologically protected metastable states in classical dynamics

Abstract

We propose that domain walls formed in a classical Ginzburg–Landau model can exhibit topologically stable but thermodynamically metastable states. This proposal relies on Allen–Cahn’s assertion that the velocity of domain wall is proportional to the mean curvature at each point. From this assertion we speculate that domain wall behaves like a rubber band that can winds the background geometry in a nontrivial way and can exist permanently. We numerically verify our proposal in two and three spatial dimensions by using various boundary conditions. It is found that there are possibilities to form topologically stable domain walls in the final equilibrium states. However, these states have higher free energies, thus are thermodynamically metastable. These metastable states that are protected by topology could potentially serve as storage media in the computer and information technology industry.