Quantum phase transitions of atom-molecule Bose mixtures in a double-well potential

Abstract

The ground state and spectral properties of Bose gases in double-well potentials are studied in two different scenarios: i) an interacting atomic Bose gas, and ii) a mixture of an atomic gas interacting with diatomic molecules. A ground state second-order quantum phase transition (QPT) is observed in both scenarios. For large attractive values of the atom-atom interaction, the ground-state is degenerate. For repulsive and small attractive interaction, the ground-state is not degenerate and is well approximated by a boson coherent state. Both systems depict an excited state quantum phase transition (ESQPT). For the mixed atom-molecule system the critical point of the ESQPT displays a discontinuity in the first derivative of the density of states.