eprintid: 1333475 rev_number: 27 eprint_status: archive userid: 608 dir: disk0/01/33/34/75 datestamp: 2011-12-16 19:47:24 lastmod: 2021-12-03 23:18:49 status_changed: 2011-12-16 19:47:24 type: article metadata_visibility: show item_issues_count: 0 creators_name: Green, AG creators_name: Sondhi, SL title: Nonlinear quantum critical transport and the Schwinger mechanism for a superfluid-Mott-insulator transition of bosons ispublished: pub divisions: UCL divisions: B04 divisions: C06 divisions: F64 keywords: NONZERO-TEMPERATURE TRANSPORT, CRITICAL-POINTS, FILMS, ATOMS note: © 2005 The American Physical Society abstract: Scaling arguments imply that quantum-critical points exhibit universal nonlinear responses to external probes. We investigate the origins of such nonlinearities in transport, which is especially problematic since the system is necessarily driven far from equilibrium. We argue that for a wide class of systems the new ingredient that enters is the Schwinger mechanism-the production of carriers from the vacuum by the applied field-which is then balanced against a scattering rate that is itself set by the field. We show by explicit computation how this works for the case of the symmetric superfluid-Mott insulator transition of bosons. date: 2005-12-31 publisher: AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOC official_url: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.267001 vfaculties: VMPS oa_status: green language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green article_type_text: Article verified: verified_batch elements_source: Web of Science elements_id: 355157 doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.267001 language_elements: EN lyricists_name: Green, Andrew lyricists_id: AGGRE15 full_text_status: public publication: PHYS REV LETT volume: 95 number: 26 article_number: 267001 issn: 0031-9007 citation: Green, AG; Sondhi, SL; (2005) Nonlinear quantum critical transport and the Schwinger mechanism for a superfluid-Mott-insulator transition of bosons. PHYS REV LETT , 95 (26) , Article 267001. 10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.267001 <https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.267001>. Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1333475/1/1333475.pdf