Non-ergodic metallic and insulating phases of Josephson junction chains

Strictly speaking the laws of the conventional Statistical Physics, based on the Equipartition Postulate and Ergodicity Hypothesis, apply only in the presence of a heat bath. Until recently this restriction was not important for real physical systems: a weak coupling with the bath was believed to be sufficient. However, the progress in both quantum gases and solid state coherent quantum devices demonstrates that the coupling to the bath can be reduced dramatically. To describe such systems properly one should revisit the very foundations of the Statistical Mechanics. We examine this general problem for the case of the Josephson junction chain and show that it displays a novel high temperature non-ergodic phase with finite resistance. With further increase of the temperature the system undergoes a transition to the fully localized state characterized by infinite resistance and exponentially long relaxation.

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