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Equilibrium and dynamical quantum phase transitions in dipolar atomic Josephson junctions

Cesare Vianello1,2,*, Giovanni Mazzarella3, and Luca Salasnich1,2,4

  • *Contact author: cesare.vianello@phd.unipd.it
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Phys. Rev. A 113, 063318 – Published 18 June, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/5mhn-jqtq

Abstract

An atomic Josephson junction realized with dipolar bosons in a double-well potential can be described by an extended Bose-Hubbard model in which dipolar interactions generate an effective on-site interaction and nearest-neighbor pair tunneling. Using mean-field theory and exact diagonalization, we investigate how this correlated process affects zero-temperature equilibrium and dynamical properties of the system. In equilibrium, we show that pair tunneling induces ground-state parity modulations and significantly reshapes the phase diagram, producing qualitative changes in the quantum phase transitions toward NOON and phase-NOON states, as well as quantitative shifts of the critical points. Out of equilibrium we demonstrate that it modifies the conditions for macroscopic quantum self-trapping, and assess its impact by comparing mean-field and fully quantum evolution, including the emergence of dynamical quantum phase transitions.

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Phys. Rev. A 113, 063318– Published 18 June, 2026
  • Received 24 February 2026
  • Accepted 5 June 2026
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