Deconfinement in a 2D optical lattice of coupled 1D boson systems

We show that a two-dimensional (2D) array of 1D interacting boson tubes has a deconfinement transition between a 1D Mott insulator and a 3D superfluid for commensurate fillings and a dimensional crossover for the incommensurate case. We determine the phase diagram and excitations of this system and discuss the consequences for Bose condensates loaded in 2D optical lattices.