Thermal and quantum noncondensate particles near the superfluid to Mott insulator transition

Abstract

We investigate the finite temperature momentum distribution of bosonic noncondensate particles inside a 3D optical lattice near the superfluid to Mott insulator transition point, treating the quantum fluctuation and thermal fluctuation effects on equal footing. We explicitly address the different momentum ($q$) dependence of quasi-particles excitations resulted from thermal and quantum origin: the former scales as $|\bfq|^{-2}$ and hence is dominant in the small momentum region, while the later scales as $|\bfq|^{-1}$ and hence dominant in the large momentum limit. Analytic and semi-analytic results are derived, providing a unique method to determine the temperature, condensate density, coherent length and/or single particle gap etc. inside the optical lattice. Our results also agree with the scaling theory of a quantum $XY$ model near the transition point. Experimental implication of the TOF measurement is also discussed.