title: Metastability for delayed differential equations.
abstract: In systems at phase transitions, two phases of the same substance may coexist for a long time before one of them dominates. We show that a similar phenomenon occurs in systems with delayed feedback, where short-term stable oscillatory patterns can also have very long lifetimes before vanishing into constant or periodic steady states.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Matemática e Estatística, Universidade de São Paulo, CP 66281, 05315-970 São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Grotta-Ragazzo
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pakdaman
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Malta