Browsing by Author "Cinti, F."

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    Defect-induced supersolidity with soft-core bosons
    (Nature Publishing Group, 2014) Cinti, F.; Macri, T.; Lechner, W.; Pupillo, G.; Pohl, T.
    More than 40 years ago, Andreev, Lifshitz and Chester suggested the possible existence of a peculiar solid phase of matter, the microscopic constituents of which can flow superfluidly without resistance due to the formation of zero-point defects in the ground state of self-assembled crystals. Yet, a physical system where this mechanism is unambiguously established remains to be found, both experimentally and theoretically. Here we investigate the zero-temperature phase diagram of two-dimensional bosons with finite-range soft-core interactions. For low particle densities, the system is shown to feature a solid phase in which zero-point vacancies emerge spontaneously and give rise to superfluid flow of particles through the crystal. This provides the first example of defect-induced, continuous-space supersolidity consistent with the Andreev–Lifshitz–Chester scenario.