Quantum Phase Transitions of Hard-Core Bosons on the Kagome Lattice

We study hard-core bosons with nearest-neighbor repulsion on the kagome lattice at different filling factors using quantum Monte Carlo simulations and a dual vortex theory. At half-filling, the ground state of the system is always a uniform superfluid in contrast to the case of the triangular lattice. There exists a quantum phase transition from a superfluid to a valence bond solid phase away from half-filling. The possibility of unusual quantum criticality is investigated.