Energy barriers between metastable states in first order quantum phase transitions

TL;DR

This paper investigates the energy barriers between metastable states during a first order quantum phase transition in a system of atoms in an optical lattice, revealing how tunneling influences transition dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a variational model to analyze energy barriers and employs a discrete WKB method to study atom tunneling effects in the transition.

Findings

Energy barriers between phases are characterized.

Tunneling reduces the energy barrier height.

Phase diagram is extended with barrier information.

Abstract

A system of neutral atoms trapped in an optical lattice and dispersively coupled to the field of an optical cavity can realize a variation of the Bose-Hubbard model with infinite-range interactions. This model exhibits a first order quantum phase transition between a Mott insulator and a charge density wave, with spontaneous symmetry breaking between even and odd sites, as was recently observed experimentally [Landig \emph{et. al.}, Nature {\bf 532} (2016)]. In the present paper we approach the analysis of this transition using a variational model which allows us to establish the notion of an energy barrier separating the two phases. Using a discrete WKB method we then show that the local tunneling of atoms between adjacent sites lowers this energy barrier and hence facilitates the transition. Within our simplified description, we are thus able to increment the phase diagram of the model with information concerning the height of the barrier separating the metastable minima from the global minimum in each phase, which is an essential aspect for the understanding of the reconfiguration dynamics induced by a quench across a quantum critical point.