F. Hebert

Quantum phase transitions in the two-dimensional hardcore boson model

We use two quantum Monte Carlo algorithms to map out the phase diagram of the two-dimensional hardcore boson Hubbard model with near (V 1 ) and next near (V 2 ) neighbor repulsion. At half filling we find three phases: superfluid (SF), checkerboard solid, and striped solid depending on the relative values of V 1 ,V 2 , and the kinetic energy. Doping away from half filling, the checkerboard solid undergoes phase separation: The superfluid and solid phases coexist but not as a single thermodynamic phase. As a function of doping, the transition from the checkerboard solid is therefore first order. In contrast, doping the striped solid away from half filling instead produces a striped supersolid phase: coexistence of density order with superfluidity as a single phase. One surprising result is that the entire line of transitions between the SF and checkerboard solid phases at half filling appears to exhibit dynamical O(3) symmetry restoration. The transitions appear to be in the same universality class as the special Heisenberg point even though this symmetry is explicitly broken by the V 2 interaction.

Supersolid phases in the one-dimensional extended soft-core bosonic Hubbard model.

We present results of quantum Monte Carlo simulations for the soft-core extended bosonic Hubbard model in one dimension exhibiting the presence of supersolid phases similar to those recently found in two dimensions. We find that in one and two dimensions, the insulator-supersolid transition has dynamic critical exponent z = 2 whereas the first order insulator-superfluid transition in two dimensions is replaced by a continuous transition with z = 1 in one dimension. We present evidence that this transition is in the Kosterlitz-Thouless universality class and discuss the mechanism behind this difference. The simultaneous presence of two types of quasi-long-range order results in two solitonlike dips in the excitation spectrum.

Quantum Monte Carlo study of an interaction-driven band-insulator-to-metal transition.

We study the transitions from band insulator to metal to Mott insulator in the ionic Hubbard model on a two-dimensional square lattice using determinant quantum Monte Carlo. Evaluation of the temperature dependence of the conductivity demonstrates that the metallic region extends for a finite range of interaction values. The Mott phase at strong coupling is accompanied by antiferromagnetic order. Inclusion of these intersite correlations changes the phase diagram qualitatively compared to dynamical mean field theory.

Exact study of the one-dimensional boson hubbard model with a superlattice potential

We use quantum Monte Carlo simulations and exact diagonalization to explore the phase diagram of the Bose-Hubbard model with an additional superlattice potential. We first analyze the properties of superfluid and insulating phases present in the hard-core limit where an exact analytic treatment is possible via the Jordan-Wigner transformation. The extension to finite on-site interactions is achieved by means of quantum Monte Carlo simulations. We determine insulator and superfluid phase diagrams as functions of the on-site repulsive interaction, superlattice potential strength, and filling, finding that insulators with fractional occupation numbers, which are present in the hard-core case, extend deep into the soft-core region. Furthermore, at integer fillings, we find that the competition between the on-site repulsion and the superlattice potential can produce a phase transition between a Mott insulator and a charge-density-wave insulator, with an intermediate superfluid phase. Our results are relevant to the behavior of ultracold atoms in optical superlattices which are beginning to be studied experimentally.

Metallic phase in the two-dimensional ionic Hubbard model

We investigate the phases of the ionic Hubbard model in a two-dimensional square lattice using determinant quantum Monte Carlo (DQMC). At half-filling, when the interaction strength or the staggered potential dominate we find Mott and band insulators, respectively. When these two energies are of the same order we find a metallic region. Charge and magnetic structure factors demonstrate the presence of antiferromagnetism only in the Mott region, although the externally imposed density modulation is present everywhere in the phase diagram. Away from half-filling, other insulating phases are found. Kinetic energy correlations do not give clear signals for the existence of a bond-ordered phase.

Interacting spin-1 bosons in a two-dimensional optical lattice

We study, using quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations, the ground state properties of spin-1 bosons trapped in a square optical lattice. The phase diagram is characterized by the mobility of the particles (Mott insulating or superfluid phase) and by their magnetic properties. For ferromagnetic on-site interactions, the whole phase diagram is ferromagnetic and the Mott insulators-superfluid phase transitions are second order. For antiferromagnetic on-site interactions, spin nematic order is found in the odd Mott lobes and in the superfluid phase. Furthermore, the superfluid-insulator phase transition is first or second order depending on whether the density in the Mott is even or odd. Inside the even Mott lobes we observe a singlet-to-nematic transition for certain values of the interactions. This transition appears to be first order.

Phase diagram of bosons in a two-dimensional optical lattice with infinite-range cavity-mediated interactions

A high-finesse optical cavity allows the establishment of long-range interactions between bosons in an optical lattice when most cold-atom experiments are restricted to short-range interactions. Supersolid phases have recently been experimentally observed in such systems. Using both exact quantum Monte Carlo simulations and the Gutzwiller approximation, we study the ground-state phase diagrams of a two-dimensional Bose-Hubbard model with infinite-range interactions which describes such experiments. In addition to superfluid and insulating Mott phases, the infinite-range checkerboard interactions introduce charge-density waves and supersolid phases. We study here the system at various particle densities, elucidate the nature of the phases and quantum phase transitions, and discuss the stability of the phases with respect to phase separation. In particular we confirm the existence and stability of a supersolid phase detected experimentally.

Pair formation and collapse in imbalanced fermion populations with unequal masses

We present an exact quantum Monte Carlo study of the effect of unequal masses on pair formation in fermionic systems with population imbalance loaded into optical lattices. We have considered three forms of the attractive interaction and find in all cases that the system is unstable and collapses as the mass difference increases and that the ground state becomes an inhomogeneous collapsed state. We also address the question of canonical vs. grand canonical ensemble and its role, if any, in stabilizing certain phases.

Superconducting transitions in flat-band systems

The physics of strongly correlated quantum particles within a flat band was originally explored as a route to itinerant ferromagnetism and, indeed, a celebrated theorem by Lieb rigorously establishes that the ground state of the repulsive Hubbard model on a bipartite lattice with unequal number of sites in each sublattice must have nonzero spin S at half-filling. Recently, there has been interest in Lieb geometries due to the possibility of novel topological insulator, nematic, and Bose-Einstein condensed (BEC) phases. In this paper, we extend the understanding of the attractive Hubbard model on the Lieb lattice by using Determinant Quantum Monte Carlo to study real space charge and pair correlation functions not addressed by the Lieb theorems. Specifically, our results show unusual charge and charge transfer signatures within the flat band, and a reduction in pairing order at ρ = 2/3 and ρ = 4/3, the points at which the flat band is first occupied and then completely filled. Lastly, we compare our results to the case of flat bands in the Kagome lattice and demonstrate that the behavior observed in the two cases is rather different.

Ground-state phase diagram of spin-(1/2) bosons in a two-dimensional optical lattice

We study a two-species bosonic Hubbard model on a two-dimensional square lattice by means of quantum Monte Carlo simulations. In addition to the usual contact repulsive interactions between the particles, the Hamiltonian has an interconversion term which allows the transformation of two particles from one species to the other. The phases are characterized by their solid or superfluid properties and by their polarization, i.e., the difference in the populations. When interspecies interactions are smaller than the intraspecies ones, the system is unpolarized, whereas in the opposite case the system is unpolarized in even Mott insulator lobes and polarized in odd Mott lobes and also in the superfluid phase. We show that in the latter case the transition between the Mott insulator of total density 2 and the superfluid can be of either second or first order depending on the relative values of the interactions, whereas the transitions are continuous in all other cases.