Phase diagram and pair Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid in a Bose-Hubbard model with flat bands

To explore superfluidity in flat-band systems, we consider a Bose-Hubbard model on a cross-linked ladder with π flux, which has a flat band with a gap between the other band for noninteracting particles, where we study the effect of the on-site repulsion nonperturbatively. For low densities, we find exact degenerate ground states, each of which is a Wigner solid with nonoverlapping Wannier states on the flat band. At higher densities, the many-body system, when projected onto the lower flat band, can be mapped to a spin-chain model. This mapping enables us to reveal the existence of a Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid comprising pairs of bosons. Interestingly, the high- and low-density regions have an overlap, where the two phases coexist.