Work

Emergent chiral Higgs mode in π -flux frustrated lattices

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Neutral-atom quantum simulators provide a powerful platform for realizing strongly correlated phases, enabling access to dynamical signatures of quasiparticles and symmetry breaking processes. Motivated by recent observations of quantum phases in flux-frustrated ladders with nonvanishing ground-state currents, we investigate interacting bosons on the dimerized Benalcazar-Bernevig-Hughes (BBH) lattice in two dimensions—originally introduced in the context of higher-order topology. After mapping out the phase diagram, which includes vortex superfluid (V-SF), vortex Mott insulator (V-MI), and featureless Mott insulator (MI) phases, we focus on the integer filling case. There, the MI/V-SF transition breaks the Z 2 T and U(1) symmetries, where Z 2 T corresponds to time-reversal symmetry (TRS). Using a slave boson description, we resolve the excitation spectrum across the transition and uncover a chiral Higgs mode whose mass softens at criticality, providing a dynamical hallmark of emergent chirality that manifests via the oscillation of the loop currents in quench dynamics. Our results establish an experimentally realistic setting for probing unconventional TRS-broken phases and quasiparticles with intrinsic chirality in strongly interacting quantum matter.

Source: Physical review. B./Physical review. B

DOI: 10.1103/tfbh-ncfw

Authors: M. Lanaro, L. Maffi, M. Di Liberto

Institutions: University of Padua, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Padova

Language: English

Topic: Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates

Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Funders: HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme, Instituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, NextGenerationEU

Award: G8959349008