  We study an ultracold gas of neutral atoms subject to the periodic optical
potential generated by a high-$Q$ cavity mode. In the limit of very low
temperatures, cavity field and atomic dynamics require a quantum description.
Starting from a cavity QED single atom Hamiltonian we use different routes to
derive approximative multiparticle Hamiltonians in Bose-Hubbard form with
rescaled or even dynamical parameters. In the limit of large enough cavity
damping the different models agree. Compared to free space optical lattices,
quantum uncertainties of the potential and the possibility of atom-field
entanglement lead to modified phase transition characteristics, the appearance
of new phases or even quantum superpositions of different phases. Using a
corresponding effective master equation, which can be numerically solved for
few particles, we can study time evolution including dissipation. As an example
we exhibit the microscopic processes behind the transition dynamics from a Mott
insulator like state to a self-ordered superradiant state of the atoms, which
appears as steady state for transverse atomic pumping.
