Abstract
In weakly coupled superconducting systems the phase difference of the complex order parameters on the two sides is the essential dynamical variable. The switching of such systems from superconducting to resistive states involves a transition from a phase value that is on the average constant to one that grows with time. At sufficiently low temperatures it is natural to think of this transition as taking place by quantum mechanical tunneling through a potential barrier. However, the phase is itself an attribute of an intrinsically quantum mechanical quantity. Thus, the sense in which it can be thought of as a quantum mechanical degree of freedom is not completely obvious. Furthermore, the dynamics of the phase cannot in general be separated from the microscopic degrees of freedom -quasiparticles-so that the correct equations of motion must describe a kind of quantum Brownian motion.
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