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An energy barrier is an increase in energy that must be overcome along an allowed route between states. Its value depends on which paths or single-step moves are allowed; specifying only the energies of the endpoints does not determine the barrier.

An energy landscape assigns an energy to each possible state and describes its variation between neighbouring states. Its local minima and intervening energy barriers help distinguish favourable states from states that a specified dynamics can reach quickly. In a Hopfield network, the assigned energy is an objective function and need not be a conserved physical quantity.

Thermal activation uses thermal fluctuations to cross an energy barrier. The crossing rate depends on the barrier, the temperature and the system's dynamics.