The generic Hamiltonian describing the zero temperature transition between the insulating Bose glass phase and the superfluid phase lacks particle-hole symmetry, but a statistical version of this symmetry is believed to be restored at the critical point. We show that the renormalization group relevance of particle-hole asymmetry may be explored in a controlled fashion only for small time dimensions, ${\ensuremath{\epsilon}}_{\ensuremath{\tau}}\ensuremath{\ll}1$, where we find a stable particle-hole asymmetric and an unstable particle-hole symmetric fixed point, but we provide evidence that the two merge for some finite ${\ensuremath{\epsilon}}_{\ensuremath{\tau}}\ensuremath{\approx}\frac{2}{3}$, which tends to confirm symmetry restoration at the physical ${\ensuremath{\epsilon}}_{\ensuremath{\tau}}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}1$.
The generic Hamiltonian describing the zero temperature transition between the insulating Bose glass phase and the superfluid phase lacks particle-hole symmetry, but a statistical version of this symmetry is believed to be restored at the critical point. We show that the renormalization group relevance of particle-hole asymmetry may be explored in a controlled fashion only for small time dimensions, \ensuremathϵ\ensuremathτ\ensuremath≪1, where we find a stable particle-hole asymmetric and an unstable particle-hole symmetric fixed point, but we provide evidence that the two merge for some finite \ensuremathϵ\ensuremathτ\ensuremath≈32, which tends to confirm symmetry restoration at the physical \ensuremathϵ\ensuremathτ=1.
We study the role of particle-hole symmetry on the universality class of various quantum phase transitions corresponding to the onset of superfluidity at zero temperature of bosons in a quenched random medium. To obtain a model with an exact particle-hole symmetry it is necessary to use the Josephson junction array, or quantum rotor, Hamiltonian, which may include disorder in both the site energies and the Josephson couplings between wave function phase operators at different sites. The functional integral formulation of this problem in d spatial dimensions yields a (d+1)-dimensional classical XY model with extended disorder, constant along the extra imaginary time dimension---the so-called random rod problem. Particle-hole symmetry may then be broken by adding nonzero site energies, which may be uniform or site dependent. We may distinguish three cases: (i) exact particle-hole symmetry, in which the site energies all vanish; (ii) statistical particle-hole symmetry, in which the site energy distribution is symmetric about zero, vanishing on average; and (iii) complete absence of particle-hole symmetry in which the distribution is generic. We explore in each case the nature of the excitations in the nonsuperfluid Mott insulating and Bose glass phases. We show, in particular, that, since the boundary of the Mott phase can be derived exactly in terms of that for the pure, nondisordered system, there can be no direct Mott-superfluid transition. Recent Monte Carlo data to the contrary can be explained in terms of rare region effects that are inaccessible to finite systems. We find also that the Bose glass compressibility, which has the interpretation of a temporal spin stiffness or superfluid density, is positive in cases (ii) and (iii), but that it vanishes with an essential singularity as full particle-hole symmetry is restored. We then focus on the critical point and discuss the relevance of type (ii) particle-hole symmetry-breaking perturbations to the random rod critical behavior, identifying a nontrivial crossover exponent. This exponent cannot be calculated exactly but is argued to be positive and the perturbation therefore relevant. We argue next that a perturbation of type (iii) is irrelevant to the resulting type (ii) critical behavior: The statistical symmetry is restored on large scales close to the critical point, and case (ii) therefore describes the dirty boson fixed point. Using various duality transformations we verify all of these ideas in one dimension. To study higher dimensions, we attempt, with partial success, to generalize the Dorogovtsev--Cardy--Boyanovsky double-epsilon expansion technique to this problem. We find that when the dimension of time ${ϵ}_{\ensuremath{\tau}}<{ϵ}_{\ensuremath{\tau}}^{c}\ensuremath{\simeq}\frac{8}{29}$ is sufficiently small a type (ii) symmetry-breaking perturbation is irrelevant, but that for sufficiently large ${ϵ}_{\ensuremath{\tau}}>{ϵ}_{\ensuremath{\tau}}^{c}$ particle-hole asymmetry is a relevant perturbation and a new stable fixed point appears. Furthermore, for ${ϵ}_{\ensuremath{\tau}}>{ϵ}_{\ensuremath{\tau}}^{c2}\ensuremath{\approx}\frac{2}{3}$, this fixed point is stable also to perturbations of type (iii): at $ϵ={ϵ}_{\ensuremath{\tau}}^{c2}$ the generic type (iii) fixed point merges with the new fixed point. We speculate, therefore, that this new fixed point becomes the dirty boson fixed point when ${ϵ}_{\ensuremath{\tau}}=1$. We point out, however, that ${ϵ}_{\ensuremath{\tau}}=1$ may be quite special. Thus, although the qualitative renormalization group flow picture the double-epsilon expansion technique provides is quite compelling, one should remain wary of applying it quantitatively to the dirty boson problem.
NOTE: Text or symbols not renderable in plain ASCII are indicated by [...]. Abstract is included in .pdf document. We study the nature of various quantum phase transitions corresponding to the onset of superfluidity, at zero temperature, of bosons in a quenched medium. Particle-hole symmetry plays an essential role in determining the universality class of the transitions. To obtain a model with an exact particle-hole symmetry it is necessary to use the Josephson junction array Hamiltonian, which may include disorder in the Josephson couplings between phases at different sates. The functional integral formulation of this problem in d spatial dimensions yields a (d + 1)-dimensional classical XY-model with extended disorder, constant along the extra imaginary time dimension -- the so-called random rod problem. Particle-hole symmetry may then be broken by adding nonzero chemical potentials or site energies, which may also be site dependent and random. We may then distinguish three cases: (i) exact particle-hole symmetry, in which the site energies all vanish, (ii) statistical particle-hole symmetry in which the site energy distribution is symmetric about zero and hence vanishes on average, and (iii) complete absence of particle-hole symmetry in which the distribution is generic. We explore in each case the nature of the excitations in the nonsuperfluid Pose glass phase. We find, for example, that the compressibility, which has the interpretation of a temporal spin stiffness or superfluid density, is positive in cases (ii) and (iii), but that it vanishes with an essential singularity as full particle-hole symmetry is restored. We then focus on the critical point and discuss the validity of various scaling arguments. In particular, we argue that the dynamical exponent z could be different from d, and the arguments leading to their equality are incorrect. We then discuss the relevance of a type (ii) particle-hole symmetry breaking perturbation to the random rod critical behavior, identifying a nontrivial crossover exponent. This exponent cannot be calculated exactly but is argued to be positive and the symmetry breaking perturbation therefore relevant. We argue next that a perturbation of type (iii) is irrelevant to the resulting type (ii) critical behavior: the statistical symmetry is restored on large scales close to the critical point, and case (ii) therefore describes the dirty boson fixed point. Using various duality transformations we verify all of these ideas in one dimension. To study higher dimensions we attempt, with partial success, to generalize the Dorogovtsev-Cardy-Boyonovsky double epsilon expansion technique to this problem. We find that when the dimension of time [...] is sufficiently small the symmetry breaking perturbation of type (ii) is irrelevant, but that for sufficiently large [...] this is a relevant perturbation and a new stable commensurate fixed point appears. We speculate that this new fixed point becomes the dirty boson fixed point when [...] = 1. We also show that for [...], there exists a particle-hole asymmetric fixed point of type (iii), but we provide evidence that it merges with the commensurate fixed point for some finite [...]. This tends to confirm symmetry restoration at the physical [...] = 1.
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 use renormalization-group theory to examine the quantum phase transitions upon exiting the insulating phase of a disordered, strongly interacting boson system. For weak disorder we find a direct transition from this Mott insulator to the superfluid phase. In d>4 a finite region around the particle-hole symmetric point supports this direct transition, whereas for 2<d<4 perturbative arguments suggest that the direct transition survives only precisely at commensurate filling. For strong disorder the renormalization trajectories pass next to two fixed points, describing a pair of distinct transitions; first from the Mott insulator to the Bose glass, and then from the Bose glass to the superfluid. The latter fixed point possesses statistical particle-hole symmetry and a dynamical exponent z, equal to the dimension d.
The continuum version of the dual theory for a system of two-dimensional quantum disordered bosons with statistical particle-hole symmetry and at T=0 admits a new disordered critical point within the renormalization group calculation at fixed dimension. We obtain the universal conductivity and the critical exponents at the superfluid-Bose glass transition in the system: ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{c}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}0.25(2e{)}^{2}/h$, $\ensuremath{\nu}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}1.38$, and z=1.93, to the lowest order in fixed-point values of the dual coupling constants.
We study the zero-temperature superfluid-insulator transition for a two-dimensional model of interacting, lattice bosons in the presence of quenched disorder and particle-hole symmetry. We follow the approach of a recent series of papers by Altman, Kafri, Polkovnikov, and Refael, in which the strong disorder renormalization group is used to study disordered bosons in one dimension. Adapting this method to two dimensions, we study several different species of disorder and uncover universal features of the superfluid-insulator transition. In particular, we locate an unstable finite disorder fixed point that governs the transition between the superfluid and a gapless, glassy insulator. We present numerical evidence that this glassy phase is the incompressible Mott glass and that the transition from this phase to the superfluid is driven by a percolation-type process. Finally, we provide estimates of the critical exponents governing this transition.