Local Versus Global Equilibration near the Bosonic Mott-Insulator–Superfluid Transition

We study the time scales for adiabaticity of trapped cold bosons subject to a time-varying lattice potential using a dynamic Gutzwiller mean-field theory. We explain apparently contradictory experimental observations by demonstrating a clear separation of time scales for local dynamics (~ ms) and global mass redistribution (~1 s). We provide a simple explanation for the short and fast time scales, finding that while density or energy transport is dominated by low energy phonons, particle-hole excitations set the adiabaticity time for fast ramps. We show how mass transport shuts off within Mott-insulator domains, leading to a chemical potential gradient that fails to equilibrate on experimental time scales.