If this configuration is most stable, it will be so everywhere, and we will have the same configuration over the whole sample: called long range order.
If this configuration is most stable, it will be so everywhere, and we will have the same configuration over the whole sample: called long range order.
If we start in a small region with a relatively stable configuration, different from the lowest energy state, it will spread throughout the sample, and we have a metastabel state which will be stable for nearly infinite time- it would have to tunnel to the more stable state.
If we start from a disordered state and cool quickly, we can get disordered cold states that are not as stable, but still live practically forever, like glass, “amorphous” with great viscosity of flow.