Hidden order in one dimensional Bose insulators

We investigate the phase diagram of spinless bosons with long range ($\propto 1/r^3$) repulsive interactions, relevant to ultracold polarized atoms or molecules, using DMRG. Between the two conventional insulating phases, the Mott and density wave phases, we find a new phase possessing hidden order revealed by non local string correlations analogous to those characterizing the Haldane gapped phase of integer spin chains. We develop a mean field theory that describes the low energy excitations in all three insulating phases. This is used to calculate the absorption spectrum due to oscillatory lattice modulation. We predict a sharp resonance in the spectrum due to a collective excitation of the new phase that would provide clear evidence for the existence of this phase.