“…However, this simple estimate holds only in the weak coupling regime, g < 1, that assumes E c < ∆. At stronger coupling, the Coulomb energy E c is renormalized down to the value E c →Ẽ ∼ ∆/g, (Chakravarty et al, 1987;Larkin and Ovchinnikov, 1983) due to electron tunnelling between the neighboring grains. Therefore, in the limit of the strong coupling, g ≫ 1, the effective Coulomb energyẼ is always smaller than the Josephson coupling,Ẽ < J, implying the superconducting ground state.…”