Glassiness versus Order in Densely Frustrated Josephson Arrays

We carry out extensive Monte Carlo simulations of the Coulomb gas dual to the uniformly frustrated two-dimensional XY model, for a sequence of frustrations f converging to the irrational s3 2 p 5 dy2. We find in these systems a sharp first order equilibrium phase transition to an ordered vortex structure at a Tc which varies only slightly with f . This ordered vortex structure remains, in general, phase incoherent until a lower vortex pinning transition Tps fd that varies with f . We argue that the glassy behaviors reported for this model in earlier simulations are dynamic effects. [S0031-9007(97)04929-6]