Emergent Bistability and Switching in a Nonequilibrium Crystal

Multistability is an inseparable feature of many physical, chemical, and biological systems which are driven far from equilibrium. In these nonequilibrium systems, stochastic dynamics often induces switching between distinct states on emergent time scales; for example, bistable switching is a natural feature of noisy, spatially extended systems that consist of bistable elements. Nevertheless, here we present experimental evidence that bistable elements are not required for the global bistability of a system. We observe temporal switching between a crystalline, condensed state and a gaslike, excited state in a spatially extended, quasi-two-dimensional system of charged microparticles. Accompanying numerical simulations show that conservative forces, damping, and stochastic noise are sufficient to prevent steady-state equilibrium, leading to switching between the two states over a range of time scales, from seconds to hours.