The phase diagrams and phase transitions of bosons with short-ranged repulsive interactions moving in periodic and/or random external potentials at zero temperature are investigated with emphasis on the superfluid-insulator transition induced by varying a parameter such as the density. Bosons in periodic potentials (e.g., on a lattice) at T=0 exhibit two types of phases: a superfluid phase and Mott insulating phases characterized by integer (or commensurate) boson densities, by the existence of a gap for particle-hole excitations, and by zero compressibility. Generically, the superfluid onset transition in d dimensions from a Mott insulator to superfluidity is ``ideal,'' or mean field in character, but at special multicritical points with particle-hole symmetry it is in the universality class of the (d+1)-dimensional XY model. In the presence of disorder, a third, ``Bose glass'' phase exists. This phase is insulating because of the localization effects of the randomness and analogous to the Fermi glass phase of interacting fermions in a strongly disordered potential.The Bose glass phase is characterized by a finite compressibility, no gap, but an infinite superfluid susceptibility. In the presence of disorder the transition to superfluidity is argued to occur only from the Bose glass phase, and never directly from the Mott insulator. This zero-temperature superfluid-insulator transition is studied via generalizations of the Josephson scaling relation for the superfluid density at the ordinary \ensuremath{\lambda} transition, highlighting the crucial role of quantum fluctuations. The transition is found to have a dynamic critical exponent z exactly equal to d and correlation length and order-parameter correlation exponents \ensuremath{\nu} and \ensuremath{\eta} which satisfy the bounds \ensuremath{\nu}\ensuremath{\ge}2/d and \ensuremath{\eta}\ensuremath{\le}2-d, respectively. It is argued that the superfluid-insulator transition in the presence of disorder may have an upper critical dimension
dc which is infinite, but a perturbative renormalization-group calculation wherein the critical exponents have mean-field values for weak disorder above d=4 is also discussed. Many of these conclusions are verified by explicit calculations on a model of one-dimensional bosons in the presence of both random and periodic potentials. The general results are applied to experiments on
4He absorbed in porous media such as Vycor. Some measurable properties of the superfluid onset are predicted exactly [e.g., the exponent x relating the \ensuremath{\lambda} transition temperature to the zero-temperature superfluid density is found to be d/2(d-1)], while stringent bounds are placed on others. Analysis of preliminary data is consistent with these predictions.
We study the zero-temperature phase transition of a two-dimensional disordered boson Hubbard model. The phase diagram is constructed in terms of the disorder strength and the chemical potential. Via Monte Carlo simulations, we find a multicritical line separating the weak-disorder regime, where the Mott-insulator-to-superfluid transition occurs, from the strong-disorder regime, where the Bose-glass-to-superfluid transition occurs. On the multicritical line, the insulator-to-superfluid transition has the dynamical critical exponent $z\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}1.35\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.05$ and the correlation length critical exponent $\ensuremath{\nu}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}0.67\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.03$. We suggest that the proliferation of the particle-hole pairs screens out the weak-disorder effects.
A model of two-species bosons moving on the sites of a lattice is studied at nonzero temperature, focusing on magnetic order and superfluid-insulator transitions. First, Landau theory is used to find the general structure of the phase diagram and in particular to demonstrate the presence of first-order transitions and hysteresis in the vicinity of a multicritical point. Second, an explicit thermodynamic phase diagram is calculated using an approach based on a field-theoretical description of the Bose-Hubbard model, which incorporates the crucial effects of particle-number fluctuations. The maximum transition temperature to a magnetically ordered Mott insulator is found to be limited by the presence of the superfluid phase.
We study finite-temperature phase transitions in a two-dimensional boson Hubbard model with zero-point quantum fluctuations via Monte Carlo simulations of a quantum rotor model and construct the corresponding phase diagram. Compressibility shows a thermally activated gapped behavior in the insulating regime. Finite-size scaling of the superfluid stiffness clearly shows the nature of the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition. The transition temperature T(c) confirms a scaling relation T(c) proportional, rho(0)(x), with x=1.0. Some evidence of anomalous quantum behavior at low temperatures is presented.
The bosonic Hubbard model is studied via a simple mean-field theory. At zero temperature, in addition to yielding a phase diagram that is qualitatively correct, namely a superfluid phase for non-integer fillings and a Mott transition from a superfluid to an insulating phase for integer fillings, this theory gives results that are in good agreement with Monte Carlo simulations. In particular, the superfluid fraction obtained as a function of the interaction strength U for both integer and non-integer fillings is close to the simulation results. In all phases the excitation spectra are obtained by using the random phase approximation (RPA): the spectrum has a gap in the insulating phase and is gapless (and linear at small wave vectors) in the superfluid phase. Analytic results are presented in the limits of large U and small superfluid density. Finite-temperature phase diagrams and the Mott-insulator-normal-phase crossover are also described.
The zero-temperature universal conductivity of two-dimensional (2D) films at the supeconductor-insulator transition is studied. The existence of a finite conductivity at T=0 and the universality class for this transition is discussed. Neglecting disorder as a first approximation, so the transition is from a commensurate Mott-Hubbard insulator to a superconductor, we calculate analytically the universal conductivity for the 2D pure boson Hubbard model up to the first order in a large-N expansion and numerically by Monte Carlo simulation of the (2+1)-D XY model. From the Monte Carlo results we find the universal conductivity to be ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\sigma}}}^{\mathrm{*}}$=(0.285\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.02)${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\sigma}}}_{\mathit{Q}}$, where ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\sigma}}}_{\mathit{Q}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$==
RQ==h/(2e
)2\ensuremath{\approxeq}6.45 k\ensuremath{\Omega}. An analysis in 1D suggests that in the presence of disorder, the universal conductivity in films might be somewhat smaller than this value. The possible existence of universal dissipation in
4He films is also discussed briefly.