Sequence of phase transitions induced in an array of Josephson junctions by their crossover to pi-state

We show that the transition of Josephson junctions between the conventional and pi states caused by the decrease in temperature induces in a regular two-dimensional array of such junctions not just a single phase transition between two phases with different ordering but a sequence of two, three or four phase transitions. The corresponding phase diagrams are constructed for the cases of bipartite (square or honeycomb) and triangular lattices.Comment: 5 pages, v2: as published in EP

Coulomb Blockade and Insulator-to-Metal Quantum Phase Transition

We analyze an interplay between Coulomb blockade and quantum fluctuations in a coherent conductor (with dimensionless conductance $g \gtrsim 1$) attached to an Ohmic shunt. We demonstrate that at T=0 the system can be either an insulator or a metal depending on whether its total resistance is larger or smaller than $h/e^2\approx 25.8$ k$\Omega$. In a metallic phase the Coulomb gap is fully suppressed by quantum fluctuations. We briefly discuss possible relation of this effect to recent experiments indicating the presence of a metal-insulator phase transition in 2d disordered systems.Comment: 4 revtex pages, no figure

Disorder induced transition between s_+- and s_++ states in two-band superconductors

We have reexamined the problem of disorder in two-band superconductors, and shown within the framework of the T-matrix approximation, that the suppression of T_c can be described by a single parameter depending on the intraband and interband impurity scattering rates. T_c is shown to be more robust against nonmagnetic impurities than would be predicted in the trivial extension of Abrikosov-Gor'kov theory. We find a disorder-induced transition from the s_{\pm} state to a gapless and then to a fully gapped s_{++} state, controlled by a single parameter -- the sign of the average coupling constant . We argue that this transition has strong implications for experiments.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures; suppl. material: 3 pages, 2 figures; published versio

Dissipation, topology, and quantum phase transition in a one-dimensional Joesphson junction array

We study the phase diagram and quantum critical properties of a resistively shunted Josephson junction array in one dimension from a strong coupling analysis. After mapping the dissipative quantum phase model to an effective sine-Gordon model we study the renormalization group flow and the phase diagram. We try to bridge the phase diagrams obtained from the weak and the strong coupling renormalization group calculations to extract a more comprehensive picture of the complete phase diagram. The relevance of our theory to experiments in nanowires is discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, A few typos are correcte

Nonperturbative interaction effects in the thermodynamics of disordered wires

We study nonperturbative interaction corrections to the thermodynamic quantities of multichannel disordered wires in the presence of the Coulomb interactions. Within the replica nonlinear $\sigma$-model (NL$\sigma$M) formalism, they arise from nonperturbative soliton saddle points of the NL$\sigma$M action. The problem is reduced to evaluating the partition function of a replicated classical one dimensional Coulomb gas. The state of the latter depends on two parameters: the number of transverse channels in the wire, N_{ch}, and the dimensionless conductance, G(L_T), of a wire segment of length equal to the thermal diffusion length, L_T. At relatively high temperatures, $G(L_T) \gtrsim \ln N_{ch}$, the gas is dimerized, i.e. consists of bound neutral pairs. At lower temperatures, $\ln N_{ch} \gtrsim G(L_T) \gtrsim 1$, the pairs overlap and form a Coulomb plasma. The crossover between the two regimes occurs at a parametrically large conductance $G(L_T) \sim \ln N_{ch}$, and may be studied independently from the perturbative effects. Specializing to the high temperature regime, we obtain the leading nonperturbative correction to the wire heat capacity. Its ratio to the heat capacity for noninteracting electrons, C_0, is $\delta C/C_0\sim N_{ch}G^2(L_T)e^{-2G(L_T)}$.Comment: 18 page

Counting Hamilton cycles in sparse random directed graphs

Let D(n,p) be the random directed graph on n vertices where each of the n(n-1) possible arcs is present independently with probability p. A celebrated result of Frieze shows that if $p\ge(\log n+\omega(1))/n$ then D(n,p) typically has a directed Hamilton cycle, and this is best possible. In this paper, we obtain a strengthening of this result, showing that under the same condition, the number of directed Hamilton cycles in D(n,p) is typically $n!(p(1+o(1)))^{n}$. We also prove a hitting-time version of this statement, showing that in the random directed graph process, as soon as every vertex has in-/out-degrees at least 1, there are typically $n!(\log n/n(1+o(1)))^{n}$ directed Hamilton cycles

Coulomb Blockade with Dispersive Interfaces

What quantity controls the Coulomb blockade oscillations if the dot--lead conductance is essentially frequency--dependent ? We argue that it is the ac dissipative conductance at the frequency given by the effective charging energy. The latter may be very different from the bare charging energy due to the interface--induced capacitance (or inductance). These observations are supported by a number of examples, considered from the weak and strong coupling (perturbation theory vs. instanton calculus) perspectives.Comment: 4 page

Powers of Hamilton cycles in pseudorandom graphs

We study the appearance of powers of Hamilton cycles in pseudorandom graphs, using the following comparatively weak pseudorandomness notion. A graph $G$ is $(\varepsilon,p,k,\ell)$-pseudorandom if for all disjoint $X$ and $Y\subset V(G)$ with $|X|\ge\varepsilon p^kn$ and $|Y|\ge\varepsilon p^\ell n$ we have $e(X,Y)=(1\pm\varepsilon)p|X||Y|$. We prove that for all $\beta>0$ there is an $\varepsilon>0$ such that an $(\varepsilon,p,1,2)$-pseudorandom graph on $n$ vertices with minimum degree at least $\beta pn$ contains the square of a Hamilton cycle. In particular, this implies that $(n,d,\lambda)$-graphs with $\lambda\ll d^{5/2 }n^{-3/2}$ contain the square of a Hamilton cycle, and thus a triangle factor if $n$ is a multiple of $3$. This improves on a result of Krivelevich, Sudakov and Szab\'o [Triangle factors in sparse pseudo-random graphs, Combinatorica 24 (2004), no. 3, 403--426]. We also extend our result to higher powers of Hamilton cycles and establish corresponding counting versions.Comment: 30 pages, 1 figur