The physics of flux lines in the cuprate superconductors pinned by columnar defects is mapped onto boson localization in two dimensions. The theory predicts a Bose glass phase with an infinite tilt modulus and zero linear resistivity, as well as an entangled flux liquid. We describe correlations and transport in these phases, and propose a scaling theory for the irreversibility line which separates them.

• Received 12 December 1991

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.68.2398