Many systems in nature can settle into several different stable states, with the final state depending on their starting conditions. However, the boundaries separating these states are often far more complicated than they first appear.

Through new research published in Physical Review Letters, researchers in Ireland and Germany, led by Serhiy Yanchuk at University College Cork, have shown that these boundaries can contain narrow, hidden pathways, allowing systems to reach stable states from starting points that simpler models would rule out entirely.