Low-temperature dephasing in disordered conductors: The effect of "1/ f ” fluctuations

Electronic quantum effects in disordered conductors are controlled by the conduction electrons' dephasing rate, which is expected to vanish with the temperature. Consider the very intriguing recently reported apparent saturation of this dephasing rate in several systems at very low temperatures. While the "standard model” of a conductor with static defects can not have such an effect, allowing some dynamics of the defects may produce it.