title: Is there a glass transition in planar vortex systems?
abstract: The criteria for the existence of a glass transition in a planar vortex array with quenched disorder are studied. Applying a replica Bethe ansatz, we obtain for self-avoiding vortices the exact quenched average free energy and effective stiffness which is found to be in excellent agreement with recent numerical results for the related random bond dimer model [C. Zeng, P. L. Leath, and T. Hwa, Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 4860 (1999)] Including a repulsive vortex interaction and a finite vortex persistence length xi, we find that for xi-->0 the system is at all temperatures in a glassy phase; a glass transition exists only for finite xi. Our results indicate that planar vortex arrays in superconducting films are glassy at presumably all temperatures.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität zu Köln, Zülpicherstrasse 77, 50937 Köln, Germany.
authors.forename: Thorsten
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Emig
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bogner