Few-body bound topological and flat-band states in a Creutz ladder

Abstract

We investigate the properties of a few interacting bosons in a Creutz ladder, which has become a standard model for topological systems, and which can be realized in experiments with cold atoms in optical lattices. At the single-particle level, this system may exhibit a completely flat energy landscape with nontrivial topological properties. In this scenario, we identify topological two-body edge states resulting from the bonding of single-particle edge and flat-band states. We also explore the formation of two- and three-body bound states in the strongly interacting limit, and we show how these quasiparticles can be engineered to replicate the flat-band and topological features of the original single-particle model. Furthermore, we show that in this geometry perfect Aharonov-Bohm caging of two-body bound states may occur for arbitrary interaction strengths, and we provide numerical evidence that the main features of this effect are preserved in an interacting many-body scenario resulting in many-body Aharonov-Bohm caging. Published by the American Physical Society 2024