First principle explanation of phase transition for Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices

Abstract

In this paper we consider Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) in one-, two- and three-dimension lattice potentials. The key argument for the explanation of the transition from Superfluidity phase to Mott-Insulator phase is suggested to be the spontaneous symmetry breaking effect which occurs for critical values of the ratio between the on-site interaction term and the hopping matrix element. Such an effect can be directly seen in the Gross-Pitaevskii equation with double-well potentials and it also explains the different behavior between one-dimensional models and two/three-dimensional models.