Quantum Criticality of Liquid-Gas Transition in a Binary Bose Mixture

Abstract

Quantum liquid, in the form of a self-bound droplet, is stabilized by a subtle balance between the mean-field contribution and quantum fluctuations. While a liquid-gas transition is expected when such a balance is broken, it remains elusive whether liquid-gas critical points exist in the quantum regime. Here we study the quantum criticality in a binary Bose mixture undergoing the liquid-gas transition. We show that, beyond a narrow stability window of the self-bound liquid, a liquid-gas coexistence persists, which eventually transits into a homogeneous mixture. Importantly, we identify two distinct critical points where the liquid-gas coexistence terminates. These critical points are characterized by rich critical behaviors in their vicinity, including divergent susceptibility, unique phonon-mode softening, and enhanced density correlations. The liquid-gas transition and the critical points can be readily explored in ultracold atoms confined to a box potential. Our work highlights the thermodynamic approach as a powerful tool in revealing the quantum liquid-gas criticality, and paves the way for further studies of critical phenomena in quantum liquids.

6+8 pages, 4+2 figures, published version

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• Attractive Solution of Binary Bose Mixtures: Liquid-Vapor Coexistence and Critical Point
• Particle imbalanced weakly interacting quantum droplets in one-dimension
• Phases and dynamics of quantum droplets in the crossover to two-dimensions
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• Nonuniversal equation of state for Rabi-coupled bosonic gases: a droplet phase
• Multicomponent one-dimensional quantum droplets across the mean-field stability regime
• Bose-Bose gases with nonuniversal corrections to the interactions: a droplet phase
• Chiral Quantum Droplet in a Spin-Orbit Coupled Bose Gas