Phase separation in supersolids

Abstract

We study quantum phase transitions in the ground state of the two dimensional hard-core boson Hubbard Hamiltonian. Recent work on this and related models has suggested ``supersolid'' phases with simultaneous diagonal and off-diagonal long range order. We show numerically that, contrary to the generally held belief, the most commonly discussed ``checkerboard'' supersolid is thermodynamically unstable. Furthermore, this supersolid cannot be stabilized by next near neighbour interaction. We obtain the correct phase diagram using the Maxwell construction. We demonstrate the ``striped'' supersolid is thermodynamically stable and is separated from the superfluid phase by a continuous phase transition.