Pinning quantum phase transition for a Luttinger liquid of strongly interacting bosons

Fluctuations arising from Heisenberg's uncertainty principle enable quantum systems to exhibit phase transitions even at zero temperature. For example, a superfluid-to-insulator transition has been observed for weakly interacting bosonic atomic gases. Here the authors report a novel type of quantum phase transition in a strongly interacting, one-dimensional quantum gas of bosonic caesium atoms. The results open up the experimental study of ultracold gases in a new regime.