Tuning the Quantum Phase Transition of Bosons in Optical Lattices via Periodic Modulation of s-Wave Scattering Length

We consider interacting bosons in a 2D square and a 3D cubic optical lattice with a periodic modulation of the s-wave scattering length. At first we map the underlying periodically driven Bose-Hubbard model for large enough driving frequencies approximately to an effective time-independent Hamiltonian with a conditional hopping. Combining different analytical approaches with quantum Monte Carlo simulations then reveals that the superfluid-Mott insulator quantum phase transition still exists despite the periodic driving and that the location of the quantum phase boundary turns out to depend quite sensitively on the driving amplitude. A more detailed quantitative analysis shows even that the effect of driving can be described within the usual Bose-Hubbard model provided that the hopping is rescaled appropriately with the driving amplitude. This finding indicates that the Bose-Hubbard model with a periodically driven s-wave scattering length and the usual Bose-Hubbard model belong to the same universality class from the point of view of critical phenomena.