Symmetry-protected topological phases in spinful bosons with a flat band

Abstract

We theoretically demonstrate that interacting symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases can be realized with ultracold spinful bosonic atoms loaded on the lattices which have a flat band at the bottom of the band structure. Ground states of such systems are not conventional Mott insulators in the sense that the ground states possess not only spin fluctuations but also non-negligible charge fluctuations. The SPT phases in such systems are determined by both spin and charge fluctuations at zero temperature. We find that the many-body ground states of such systems can be exactly obtained in some special cases, and these exact ground states turn out to serve as representative states of the SPT phases. As a concrete example, we demonstrate that spin-1 bosons on a sawtooth chain can be in an SPT phase protected by $\mathbb{Z}_2 \times \mathbb{Z}_2$ spin rotation symmetry or time-reversal symmetry, and this SPT phase is a result of spin fluctuations. We also show that spin-3 bosons on a kagome lattice can be in an SPT phase protected by $D_2$ point group symmetry, but this SPT phase is, however, a result of charge fluctuations.