Fractional corner charges in a two-dimensional superlattice Bose-Hubbard model

We study higher order topology in the presence of strong interactions in a two-dimensional, experimentally accessible superlattice Bose-Hubbard model with alternating hoppings and strong on-site repulsion. We evaluate the phase diagram of the model around half-filling using the density renormalization group ansatz and find two gapped phases separated by a gapless superfluid region. We demonstrate that the gapped states realize two distinct higher order symmetry protected topological phases, which are protected by a combination of charge conservation and C-4 lattice symmetry. The phases are distinguished in terms of a many-body topological invariant and a quantized, experimentally accessible fractional corner charge that is robust against arbitrary, symmetry preserving edge manipulations. We support our claims by numerically studying the full counting statistics of the corner charge, finding a sharp distribution peaked around the quantized values. Our results allow for a direct comparison with experiments and represent a confirmation of theoretically predicted higher order topology in a strongly interacting system. Experimentally, the fractional corner charge can be observed in ultracold atomic settings using state of the art quantum gas microscopy.