Possible Glassiness in a Periodic Long-Range Josephson Array

TL;DR

This paper analytically investigates a periodic long-range Josephson array under a magnetic field, revealing a first-order phase transition into a glassy phase with many metastable states, especially at weak fields.

Contribution

It provides the first analytical demonstration of glassy behavior in a long-range Josephson array with explicit analysis at weak magnetic fields.

Findings

First-order transition into a glassy phase

Extensive number of metastable states

Small discontinuity at weak fields

Abstract

We present an analytic study of a periodic Josephson array with long-range interactions in a transverse magnetic field. We find that this system exhibits a first-order transition into a phase characterized by an extensive number of states separated by barriers that scale with the system size; the associated discontinuity is small in the limit of weak applied field, thus permitting an explicit analysis in this regime.