Quantum Compactons in an extended Bose-Hubbard model

Abstract: The Bose-Hubbard model is used to study bosons in optical lattices. In this thesis we will use an extended Bose-Hubbard model to study a type of completely localized solutions, called compactons. The compactons are a special case of the much studied solitons. The soliton is a familiar concept in non-linear physics. It is a stable, localized wave-solution, found in a range of different systems; from DNA-molecules to optical fibers. The compacton is a soliton that is completely localized, i.e. strictly zero outside a given area. The dynamics of the (extended) Bose-Hubbard model is based on the tunneling of particles between the lattice sites. The ordinary Bose-Hubbard model only accounts for one-particle tunneling processes. We will consider a model that also takes some two-particle tunneling processes into account, basically by considering long-range effects of the particle interaction. The aim of this thesis is to find and study the quantum analog of the compactons found in an extended Discrete Non-Linear Schrödinger equation. We will study analytical solutions and try to find if and under which conditions specific compactons exist. Numerical calculations are made to study the properties of the compactons and to study how compacton solutions arise in the classical limit.