Barkhausen jumps and metastability

The magnetization process drives a ferromagnetic system through a sequence of discrete metastable magnetization states; the abrupt transitions taking place between these states are responsible for the Barkhausen noise. In thin films, the magnetization states of a small region of the sample surface can be identified, and experimental information can be gained on the statistical properties of the magnetization sequence. Here we investigate the stability of the system in a particular state in the presence of an increasing magnetic field, which we call the state life. A simple statistical model, based on the reliability theory, is proposed in order to explain the observed data.