We study ultracold Bose gases in periodic potentials as described by the Bose-Hubbard model. In 1D and at finite temperature, we simulate ultracold Bose gases in imaginary time with the gauge
P representation. We study various quantities including the Luttinger parameter
K, which is important for locating the boundaries of the Mott insulator lobes, and find a simple relation for the kinetic energy part of the Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian. We show that for J=0, the stepwise pattern of the average number of particles per lattice site versus the chemical potential vanishes at temperatures above
T≈0.1U. Also, at chemical potential
μ=0.5U and temperature
T=0.5U by increasing
J, the relative value of the number fluctuation decreases and approaches that of a coherent state.