Strong Interaction Effects in Superfluid Ising Quantum Phase Transition

Abstract

We study the quantum phase transition between a normal Bose superfluid to one that breaks additional Z_2 Ising symmetry. Using the recent shaken optical lattice experiment as an example, we first show that at mean-field level atomic interaction can significantly shift the critical point. Near the critical point, bosons can condense into a momentum state with high or even locally maximum kinetic energies due to interaction effect. Then, we present a general low-energy effective field theory that treats both the superfluid transition and the Ising transition in a uniform framework, and identify a quantum tricritical point separating normal superfluid, Z_2 superfluid and Mott insulator. Using perturbative renormalization group method, we find that the quantum phase transition belongs to a unique universality class that is different from that of a dilute Bose gas.