  We study a loop of Josephson junctions that is quenched through its critical
temperature. For three or more junctions, symmetry breaking states can be
achieved without thermal activation, in spite of the fact that the relaxation
time is practically constant when the critical temperature is approached from
above. The probability for these states decreases with quenching time, but the
dependence is not allometric. For large number of junctions, cooling does not
have to be fast. For this case, we evaluate the standard deviation of the
induced flux. Our results are consistent with the available experimental data.
