2003/10/10 by Philip Phillips, Denis Dalidovich · 5 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Alloy #Boson #Condensed matter physics #Insulator (electricity) #Materials science #Metal #Metallurgy #Metal–insulator transition #Optoelectronics #Oxide #Phase (matter) #Physics #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Quantum mechanics #Superconductivity #Theoretical and Computational Physics #Thermodynamics #Vortex #cond-mat.dis-nn #cond-mat.supr-con
paper · pdf · doi:10.1126/science.1088253
published as SCIENCE, vol. 302, 243-247 (2003) · Double-spaced with five .eps files at end of text
openalex publication_date 2003/10/10 · arxiv created 2003/10/14 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The conventional theory of metals is in crisis. In the past 15 years, there has been an unexpected sprouting of metallic states in low-dimensional systems, directly contradicting conventional wisdom. For example, bosons are thought to exist in one of two ground states: condensed in a superconductor or localized in an insulator. However, several experiments on thin metal-alloy films have observed that a metallic phase disrupts the direct transition between the superconductor and the insulator. We analyze the experiments on the insulator-superconductor transition and argue that the intervening metallic phase is bosonic. All relevant theoretical proposals for the Bose metal are discussed, particularly the recent idea that the metallic phase is glassy. The implications for the putative vortex-glass state in the copper oxide superconductors are examined.