Phase diagram and metastability of the Ising model on two coupled networks

We explore the cooperative behaviour and phase transitions of interacting networks by studying a simplified model consisting of Ising spins placed on the nodes of two coupled Erd\"os-R\'enyi random graphs. We derive analytical expressions for the free-energy of the system and the magnetization of each graph, from which the phase diagrams, the stability of the different states, and the nature of the transitions among them, are clearly characterized. We show that a metastable state appears discontinuously by varying the model parameters, yielding a region in the phase diagram where two solutions coexist. By performing Monte-Carlo simulations, we confirm the exactness of our main theoretical results and show that the typical time the system needs to escape from a metastable state grows exponentially fast as a function of the temperature, characterizing ergodicity breaking in the thermodynamic limit.