Weak ergodicity breaking induced by global memory effects

Abstract: We study the phenomenon of weak ergodicity breaking for a class of globally correlated random walk dynamics defined over a finite set of states. The persistence in a given state or the transition to another one depends on the whole previous temporal history of the system. A set of waiting time distributions, associated to each state, set the random times between consecutive steps. Their mean value is finite for all states. The probability density of time-averaged observables is obtained for different memory mechanisms. This statistical object explicitly shows departures between time and ensemble averages. While the mean residence time in each state may result divergent, we demonstrate that this condition is in general not necessary for breaking ergodicity. Hence, global memory effects are an alternative mechanism able to induce this property. Analytical and numerical calculations support these results.