Glassiness Vs. Order in Densely Frustrated Josephson Arrays

TL;DR

This study uses Monte Carlo simulations to explore phase transitions and vortex structures in frustrated Josephson arrays, revealing a sharp transition to order and distinguishing between equilibrium and dynamic glassy behaviors.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the phase behavior of frustrated Josephson arrays, especially the nature of vortex ordering and the distinction between equilibrium and dynamic glassiness.

Findings

Sharp first-order transition to ordered vortex structure at T_c

Ordered vortex phase remains phase incoherent until T_p(f)

Glassy behaviors are identified as dynamic effects rather than equilibrium phenomena

Abstract

We carry out extensive Monte Carlo simulations on the Coulomb gas dual to the uniformly frustrated two dimensional XY model, for a sequence of frustrations f converging to the irraltional (3-sqrt 5)/2. We find in these systems a sharp first order equilibrium phase transition to an ordered vortex structure at a T_c which varies only slightly with f. This ordered vortex structure remains in general phase incoherent until a lower pinning transition T_p(f) that varies with f. We argue that the glassy behaviors reported for this model in earlier simulations are dynamic effects.