Bose-Hubbard model in the presence of artificial magnetic fields: Ground state and thermal phase diagrams

Abstract: We consider effects of artificial magnetic fields on the ground state of the two-dimensional Bose-Hubbard model. Using an asymmetric Bose-Hubbard model, we demonstrate that the frustrating hopping energy localizes bosons and enlarges insulators and supersolid borders. We show these increments in the presence of artificial gauge fields up to a symmetric point of the field. Moreover, our calculations exhibit the real space modulations of the superfluid and supersolid phases. The bosonic current exhibits vortices in these phases, which their configurations depend on the commensuration between the magnetic field and the lattice. Although the magnetic field breaks the translational symmetry of the square lattice explicitly, this symmetry is restored in the Mott insulator phase. The filling factor exhibits a checkerboard pattern in the density-wave and supersolid phases, regardless of the magnetic field strength. We explore thermal fluctuations and demonstrate the robustness of insulators and SS phases up to temperatures comparable to the interaction energy, which support the feasibility of observing such phases in experiments.