We study the ground-state phase diagram of a one-dimensional $\mathbb{Z}_2$ lattice gauge theory coupled to soft-core bosonic matter at unit filling, inspired by the Higgs sector of the standard model. Through a combination of analytical perturbative approaches, exact diagonalization, and density-matrix-renormalization-group simulations, we uncover a rich phase diagram driven by gauge-field-mediated resonant pair hopping and the confinement of single particles. The pair hopping results in a bunching state with superextensive energy and macroscopic particle number fluctuations at strong electric field strengths and weak on-site interactions. The bunching state crosses over into a pair superfluid phase as the on-site interaction increases, characterized by a finite superfluid density and powerlaw-decaying pair correlations. At large on-site interaction strengths and driven by effective interactions induced by the gauge constraint, the superfluid transitions into an incompressible pair Mott insulator phase. At weak field strengths and on-site interactions, we find a plasma-like region, where single bosons exhibit large short-range correlations and the ground state is composed almost equally of states with even and odd local boson occupation. The presence of a bunching state with large number fluctuations, which is difficult to study using classical numerics, motivates experimental realizations in hybrid boson-qubit quantum simulation platforms such as circuit QED, neutral atoms, and trapped ions. Our findings highlight the rich interplay between gauge fields and soft-core bosonic matter.
Constrained many-body phases in a Z2-Higgs lattice gauge theory
We study the ground-state phase diagram of a one-dimensional Z2 lattice gauge theory coupled to soft-core bosonic matter at unit filling, inspired by the Higgs sector of the standard model. Through a combination of analytical perturbative approaches, exact diagonalization, and density-matrix-renormalization-group simulations, we uncover a rich phase diagram driven by gauge-field-mediated resonant pair hopping and the confinement of single particles. The pair hopping results in a bunching state with superextensive energy and macroscopic particle number fluctuations at strong electric field strengths and weak on-site interactions. The bunching state crosses over into a pair superfluid phase as the on-site interaction increases, characterized by a finite superfluid density and powerlaw-decaying pair correlations. At large on-site interaction strengths and driven by effective interactions induced by the gauge constraint, the superfluid transitions into an incompressible pair Mott insulator phase. At weak field strengths and on-site interactions, we find a plasma-like region, where single bosons exhibit large short-range correlations and the ground state is composed almost equally of states with even and odd local boson occupation. The presence of a bunching state with large number fluctuations, which is difficult to study using classical numerics, motivates experimental realizations in hybrid boson-qubit quantum simulation platforms such as circuit QED, neutral atoms, and trapped ions. Our findings highlight the rich interplay between gauge fields and soft-core bosonic matter.
Phase structure of the one-dimensional Z2 lattice gauge theory with second nearest-neighbor interactions
We investigate the ground-state phase diagram of a one-dimensional Z2 lattice gauge theory (LGT) model with hard-core bosons at half-filling, extending previous studies by including second nearest-neighbor (2NN) interactions. Using matrix product state techniques within the density matrix renormalization group, we compute charge gap, static structure factor, pair-pair correlation functions, and entanglement entropy for various interaction strengths and field parameters. We analyze two representative neatest-neighbor interaction strengths (V1) that correspond to the Luttinger liquid (LL) and Mott insulator (MI) phases in the absence of the 2NN interactions. We introduce the 2NN coupling V2 and investigate its impact on the system. Our results reveal very rich behavior. As the 2NN repulsion increases, in the case of small V1, we observe a direct transition from the LL phase to a charge-ordered insulator (COI) phase with four-site ordering pattern, whereas for large V1, we observe a transition from the MI phase with two-site ordering pattern (previously found with only V1 included), going through an intermediate LL region, and finally reaching the COI regime. Additionally, the inclusion of 2NN interactions enhances charge order and suppresses pair coherence, evidenced by sharp peaks in the structure factor and rapid decay in pair-pair correlators. Our work extends the well-studied phase structure of 1D Z2 LGT models and demonstrates the interplay between gauge fields, confinement, and extended interactions.
Matter-induced plaquette terms in a Z2 lattice gauge theory
Lattice gauge theories (LGTs) provide a powerful framework for studying confinement, topological order, and exotic quantum matter. In particular, the paradigmatic phenomenon of confinement, where dynamical matter is coupled to gauge fields and forms bound states, remains an open problem. In addition, LGTs can provide low-energy descriptions of quantum spin liquids, which is the focus of ongoing experimental research. However, the study of LGTs is often limited theoretically by their numerical complexity and experimentally in implementing challenging multi-body interactions, such as the plaquette terms crucial for the realization of many exotic phases of matter. Here we investigate a (2+1)D Z2 LGT coupled to hard-core bosonic matter featuring a global U(1) symmetry, and show that dynamical matter naturally induces sizable plaquette interactions even in the absence of explicit plaquette terms in the Hamiltonian. Using a combination of density matrix renormalization group simulations and neural quantum state calculations up to a system size of 20×20, we analyze the model across different fillings and electric field strengths. At small coupling strength, we find a large plaquette expectation value, independent of system size, for a wide range of fillings, which decreases in the presence of stronger electric fields. Furthermore, we observe signatures of a confinement-deconfinement transition at weak coupling strengths. Our results demonstrate that dynamical U(1) matter can induce complex multi-body interactions, suggesting a natural route to the realization of strong plaquette terms and paving the way for realizing a topological quantum spin liquid protected by a large gap.
Bosonic lattice systems with nontrivial interactions represent an intriguing platform to study exotic phases of matter. Here, we study the effects of extended correlated hopping processes in a system of bosons trapped in a lattice geometry. The interplay between single particle tunneling terms, correlated hopping processes, and onsite repulsion is studied by means of a combination of exact diagonalization, strong coupling expansion, and cluster mean field theory. We identify a rich ground state phase diagram where, apart from the usual Mott and superfluid states, superfluid phases with interesting clustering properties occur.
Bosons in periodic potentials with very strong local interactions, known as constrained bosons, often exhibit interesting physical behavior. We investigate the ground-state properties of a two-leg Bose-Hubbard ladder by imposing a three-body constraint in one leg and a hard-core constraint in the other. By using the cluster mean-field theory approximation and the density matrix renormalization group method, we show that at unit filling, for strong two-body attraction among the three-body constrained bosons, the system becomes a gapped pair-Mott insulator where all the bosons form strong bound pairs and occupy the leg with the three-body constraint. With increase in hopping strength, this pair-Mott insulator phase undergoes a phase transition to the gapless superfluid phase for equal leg and rung hopping strengths. However, when the rung hopping is stronger compared to the leg hopping, we obtain a crossover to another gapped phase which is called the rung-Mott insulator phase where the bosons prefer to delocalize on the rungs rather than the legs. By moving away from unit filling, the system remains in the superfluid phase except for a small region below the gapped phase where a pair superfluid phase is stabilized in the regime of strong attractive interaction. We further extend our studies by considering the three-body constraint in both the legs and find that the crossover from the gapped to gapped phase does not occur; rather, the system undergoes a transition from a pair-rung-Mott insulator phase to the superfluid phase at unit filling. Moreover, in this case, we find the signature of the pair superfluid phase on either side of this gapped phase.
Using an efficient cluster approach, we study the physics of two-dimensional lattice bosons in a strong magnetic field in the regime where the tunneling is much weaker than the on-site interaction strength. We study both the dilute, hard-core bosons at filling factors much smaller than unity occupation per site and the physics in the vicinity of the superfluid-Mott lobes as the density is tuned away from unity. For hard-core bosons, we carry out extensive numerics for a fixed flux per plaquette $\ensuremath{\phi}=1/5$ and $\ensuremath{\phi}=1/3$. At large flux, the lowest-energy state is a strongly correlated superfluid, analogous to He-4, in which the order parameter is dramatically suppressed, but nonzero. At filling factors $\ensuremath{\nu}=1/2,1$, we find competing incompressible states which are metastable. These appear to be commensurate density wave states. For small flux, the situation is reversed and the ground state at $\ensuremath{\nu}=1/2$ is an incompressible density wave solid. Here, we find a metastable lattice supersolid phase, where superfluidity and density wave order coexist. We then perform careful numerical studies of the physics near the vicinity of the Mott lobes for $\ensuremath{\phi}=1/2$ and $\ensuremath{\phi}=1/4$. At $\ensuremath{\phi}=1/2$, the superfluid ground state has commensurate density wave order. At $\ensuremath{\phi}=1/4$, incompressible phases appear outside the Mott lobes at densities n=1.125 and n=1.25, corresponding to filling fractions $\ensuremath{\nu}=1/2$ and 1, respectively. These phases, which are absent in single-site mean-field theory, are metastable and have slightly higher energy than the superfluid, but the energy difference between them shrinks rapidly with increasing cluster size, suggestive of an incompressible ground state. We thus explore the interplay between Mott physics, magnetic Landau levels, and superfluidity, finding a rich phase diagram of competing compressible and incompressible states.
Abstract Coupling dynamical charges to gauge fields can result in highly non-local interactions with a linear confining potential. As a consequence, individual particles bind into mesons which, in one dimension, become the new constituents of emergent Luttinger liquids (LLs). Furthermore, at commensurate fillings, different Mott-insulating states can be stabilized by including nearest-neighbour (NN) interactions among charges. However, rich phase diagrams expected in such models have not been fully explored and still lack comprehensive theoretical explanation. Here, by combining numerical and analytical tools, we study a simple one-dimensional Z 2 lattice gauge theory at half-filling, where U(1) matter is coupled to gauge fields and interacts through NN repulsion. We uncover a rich phase diagram where the local NN interaction stabilizes a Mott state of individual charges (or partons) on the one hand, and an LL of confined mesons on the other. Furthermore, at the interface between these two phases, we uncover a highly frustrated regime arising due to the competition between the local NN repulsion and the non-local confining interactions, realizing a pre-formed parton plasma. Our work is motivated by the recent progress in ultracold atom experiments, where such simple model could be readily implemented. For this reason we calculate the static structure factor which we propose as a simple probe to explore the phase diagram in an experimental setup.