Universal Scaling of the Conductivity at the Superfluid-Insulator Phase Transition

Abstract

The scaling of the conductivity at the superfluid-insulator quantum phase transition in two dimensions is studied by numerical simulations of the Bose-Hubbard model. In contrast to previous studies, we focus on properties of this model in the experimentally relevant thermodynamic limit at finite temperature T. We find clear evidence for deviations from w_k-scaling of the conductivity towards w_k/T-scaling at low Matsubara frequencies w_k. By careful analytic continuation using Pade approximants we show that this behavior carries over to the real frequency axis where the conductivity scales with w/T at small frequencies and low temperatures. We estimate the universal dc conductivity to be 0.45(5)Q^2/h, distinct from previous estimates in the T=0, w/T >> 1 limit.Comment: Accepted for publication in PR