Coexistence, interfacial energy, and the fate of microemulsions in 2D dipolar bosons

TL;DR

This paper uses Quantum Monte Carlo simulations to study phase transitions in 2D dipolar bosons, showing that microemulsions are unlikely due to large bubble sizes, and providing detailed phase boundary data.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of the superfluid-crystal transition in 2D dipolar bosons and rules out microemulsion scenarios based on bubble size estimates.

Findings

Identified freezing and melting densities for the phases.

Estimated the energy of the interface between phases.

Ruled out microemulsion scenarios due to large bubble sizes.

Abstract

The superfluid-crystal quantum phase transition of a system of purely repulsive dipolar bosons in two dimensions is studied by Quantum Monte Carlo simulations at zero temperature. We determine freezing and melting densities, and estimate the energy per unit length of a macroscopic interface separating the two phases. The results rule out the microemulsion scenario for any physical realization of this system, given the exceedingly large predicted size of the bubbles.