Metastable states in the Morse–Rayleigh chain

The dynamics of a dense ensemble of interacting active Brownian particles is studied. Nonlinear negative friction is described in the sense of Rayleigh; particles are interconnected via Morse potential forces. Such a chain can be considered as an ensemble of interconnected Rayleigh oscillators.
The stationary modes (attractors) of chains with periodic boundary conditions looks like cnoidal waves. They are characterized by a uniform distribution of the density maxima of particles in the chain. However, when the chain starts with random initial conditions, a state of nonuniformly distribution of density maxima arises first. This state is metastable and the transition to a stable mode corresponds to a long transition process.
Characteristics of metastable states, regularities and probability of their occurrence and their lifetimes are studied by methods of computer simulation.