Dimensional crossover and phase transitions in coupled chains: Density matrix renormalization group results

Quasi-one-dimensional (Q1D) systems, i.e., three- and two-dimensional (3D/2D) arrays composed of weakly coupled one-dimensional lattices of interacting quantum particles, exhibit rich and fascinating physics. They are studied across various areas of condensed matter and ultracold atomic lattice-gas physics, and are often marked by dimensional crossover as the coupling between one-dimensional systems is increased or temperature decreased, i.e., the Q1D system goes from appearing largely 1D to largely 3D. Phase transitions occurring along the crossover can strongly enhance this effect. Understanding these crossovers and associated phase transitions can be challenging due to the very different elementary excitations of 1D systems compared to higher-dimensional ones. In the present work, we combine numerical matrix product state (MPS) methods with mean-field (MF) theory to study paradigmatic cases of dimensional crossovers and the associated phase transitions in systems of both hard-core and soft-core lattice bosons, with relevance to both condensed matter physics and ultracold atomic gases. We show that the superfluid-to-insulator transition is a first order one, as opposed to the isotropic cases and calculate transition temperatures for the superfluid states, finding excellent agreement with analytical theory. At the same time, our MPS+MF approach keeps functioning well where the current analytical framework cannot be applied. We further confirm the qualitative and quantitative reliability of our approach by comparison to exact quantum Monte Carlo calculations for the full 3D arrays.