Bosonic hard spheres in quasi-one dimensional bichromatic optical lattices

We calculated the phase diagram of a continuous system of hard spheres loaded in a quasi-one dimensional bichromatic optical lattice. The wavelengths of both lattice-defining lasers were chosen to model an incommensurate arrangement. Densities of one particle and half a particle per potential well were considered. Our results can be compared directly to those of the experimental system [Fallani et al. PRL, {bf 98} 130404 (2007)] from which our initial parameters were taken. The phase diagrams for both densities are significatively different to those obtained by describing the same experimental setup with a Bose-Hubbard model.

State diagram for continuous quasi-one dimensional systems in optical lattices

We studied the appearance of Mott insulator domains of hard sphere bosons on quasi one-dimensional optical lattices when an harmonic trap was superimposed along the main axis of the system. Instead of the standard approximation represented by the Bose-Hubbard model, we described those arrangements by continuous Hamiltonians that depended on the same parameters as the experimental setups. We found that for a given trap the optical potential depth, $V_0$, needed to create a single connected Mott domain decreased with the number of atoms loaded on the lattice. If the confinement was large enough, it reached a minimum when, in absence of any optical lattice, the atom density at the center of the trap was the equivalent of one particle per optical well. For larger densities, the creation of that single domain proceeded via an intermediate shell structure in which Mott domains alternated with superfluid ones.

A continuous model for bosonic hard spheres in quasi one-dimensional optical lattices

By means of diffusion Monte Carlo calculations, we investigated the quantum phase transition between a superfluid and a Mott insulator for a system of hard-sphere bosons in a quasi one-dimensional optical lattice. For this continuous hamiltonian, we studied how the stability limits of the Mott phase changed with the optical lattice depth and the transverse confinement width. A comparison of these results to those of a one-dimensional homogeneous Bose-Hubbard model indicates that this last model describes accurately the phase diagram only in the limit of deep lattices. For shallow ones, our results are comparable to those of the sine-Gordon model in its limit of application. We provide an estimate of the critical parameters when none of those models are realistic descriptions of a quasi one-dimensional optical lattice.

Zero-temperature phase diagram of hard sphere bosons in asymmetric three dimensional optical lattices

We studied the superfluid-to-Mott insulator transition for bosonic hard spheres loaded in asymmetric three-dimensional optical lattices by means of diffusion Monte Carlo calculations. The onset of the transition was monitored through the change in the chemical potential around the density corresponding to one particle per potential well. With this method, we were able to reproduce the results given in the literature for three-dimensional symmetric lattices and for systems whose asymmetry makes them equivalent to a set of quasi-one dimensional tubes. The location of the same transition for asymmetric systems akin to a stack of quasi-two dimensional lattices will be also given. Our results were checked against those given by a Bose-Hubbard model for similar arrangements.

Three-gluon running coupling from lattice QCD at $N_f=2+1+1$: a consistency check of the OPE approach

We present a lattice calculation of the renormalized running coupling constant in symmetric (MOM) and asymmetric ($widetilde{rm MOM}$) momentum substraction schemes including $u$, $d$, $s$ and $c$ quarks in the sea. An Operator Product Expansion dominated by the dimension-two $langle A^2rangle$ condensate is used to fit the running of the coupling. We argue that the agreement in the predicted $langle A^2rangle$ condensate for both schemes is a strong support for the validity of the OPE approach and the effect of this non-gauge invariant condensate over the running of the strong coupling.

On the reduction of hypercubic lattice artifacts

This note presents a comparative study of various options to reduce the errors coming from the discretization of a Quantum Field Theory in a lattice with hypercubic symmetry. We show that it is possible to perform an extrapolation towards the continuum which is able to eliminate systematically the artifacts which break the O(4) symmetry.