Particle-hole character of the Higgs and Goldstone modes in strongly-interacting lattice bosons

Abstract

We study the low-energy excitations of the Bose-Hubbard model in the strongly-interacting superfluid phase using a Gutzwiller approach and extract the single-particle and single-hole excitation amplitudes for each mode. We report emergent mode-dependent particle-hole symmetry on specific arc-shaped lines in the phase diagram connecting the well-known Lorentz-invariant limits of the Bose-Hubbard model. By tracking the in-phase particle-hole symmetric oscillations of the order parameter, we provide an answer to the long-standing question about the fate of the pure amplitude Higgs mode away from the integer-density critical point. Furthermore, we point out that out-of-phase oscillations are responsible for a full suppression of the condensate density oscillations of the gapless Goldstone mode. Possible detection protocols are also discussed.