title: Mott domains of bosons confined on optical lattices.
abstract: In the absence of a confining potential, the boson-Hubbard model exhibits a superfluid to Mott insulator quantum phase transition at commensurate fillings and strong coupling. We use quantum Monte Carlo simulations to study the ground state of the one-dimensional bosonic Hubbard model in a trap. Some, but not all, aspects of the Mott insulating phase persist. Mott behavior occurs for a continuous range of incommensurate fillings, very different from the unconfined case, and the establishment of the Mott phase does not proceed via a traditional quantum phase transition. These results have important implications for interpreting experiments on ultracold atoms on optical lattices.
authors.affiliation: Institut Non-Linéaire de Nice, Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, 1361 route des Lucioles, 06560 Valbonne, France.
authors.forename: G G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Batrouni
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rousseau
authors.forename: R T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Scalettar
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rigol
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Muramatsu
authors.forename: P J H
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Denteneer
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Troyer