Weak First-Order Superfluid-Solid Quantum Phase Transitions

We study superfluid-solid zero-temperature transitions in two-dimensional lattice boson-spin models using worm-algorithm Monte Carlo simulations. We observe that such transitions are typically first order with the exception of special high-symmetry points which require fine-tuning in the Hamiltonian parameter space. We present evidence that the superfluid-checkerboard solid and superfluid–valence-bond solid transitions at half-integer filling factor are extremely weak first-order transitions and in small systems can be confused with continuous or high-symmetry points