Non-ergodic effects in the Coulomb glass: specific heat

Abstract

We present a numerical method for the investigation of non-ergodic effects in the Coulomb glass. For that, an almost complete set of low-energy many-particle states is obtained by a new algorithm. The dynamics of the sample is mapped to the graph formed by the relevant transitions between these states, that means by transitions with rates larger than the inverse of the duration of the measurement. The formation of isolated clusters in the graph indicates non-ergodicity. We analyze the connectivity of this graph in dependence on temperature, duration of measurement, degree of disorder, and dimensionality, studying how non-ergodicity is reflected in the specific heat.