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arXiv:1011.4257 · New Journal of Physics

Gray solitons in a strongly interacting superfluid Fermi gas

Andrea Spuntarelli, Lincoln D. Carr, P. Pieri, Giancarlo Calvanese Strinati

Published Mar 16, 2011• 35 citations

Abstract

The Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (BCS) to Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) crossover problem is solved for stationary gray solitons via the Boguliubov–de Gennes equations at zero temperature. These crossover solitons exhibit a localized notch in the gap and a characteristic phase difference across the notch for all interaction strengths, from BEC to BCS regimes. However, they do not follow the well-known Josephson-like sinusoidal relationship between velocity and phase difference except in the far BEC limit: at unitarity, the velocity has a nearly linear dependence on phase difference over an extended range. For a fixed phase difference, the soliton is of nearly constant depth from the BEC limit to unitarity and then grows progressively shallower into the BCS limit, and on the BCS side, Friedel oscillations are apparent in both gap amplitude and phase. The crossover soliton appears fundamentally in the gap; we show, however, that the density closely follows the gap, and the soliton is therefore observable. We develop an approximate power-law relationship to express this fact: the density of gray crossover solitons varies as the square of the gap amplitude in the BEC limit and as a power of about 1.5 at unitarity.

DOI: 10.1088/1367-2630/13/3/035010

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We will discuss recent results on the theoretical and experimental investigations on solitons in a superfluid Fermi gas along the BCS-BEC crossover. On the theory side, by solving the Bogoliubov de Gennes equations and looking for real and odd solutions for the order parameter, it has been shown that a dark soliton at unitarity posses a large density contrast and fermionic bound states. The superfluid gap is found to be significantly quenched by the presence of the soliton due to the occurrence of Andreev fermionic bound states localized near the nodal plane of the order parameter. By solving the time dependent Bogoliubov de Gennes equations, also the decay and collisions of dark solitons has been investigated. Recently, a cascade of Solitonic Excitations in a Superfluid Fermi gas has been experimentally observed.

We investigate the linear and nonlinear sound propagations in a cigar-shaped superfluid Fermi gas with a large particle number. We first solve analytically the eigenvalue problem of linear collective excitations and provide explicit expressions of all eigenvalues and eigenfunctions, which are valid for all superfluid regimes in the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer-Bose-Einstein condensation (BCS-BEC) crossover. The linear sound speed obtained agrees well with that of a recent experimental measurement. We then consider a weak nonlinear excitation and show that the time evolution of the excitation obeys a Korteweg de Vries equation. Different from the result obtained in quasi-one-dimensional case studied previously, where subsonic dark solitons are obtained via the balance between quantum pressure and nonlinear effect, we demonstrate that bright solitons with supersonic propagating velocity can be generated in the present three-dimensional system through the balance between a waveguidelike dispersion and the interparticle interaction. The supersonic bright solitons obtained display different physical properties in different superfluid regimes and hence can be used to characterize superfluid features of the BCS-BEC crossover.

Families of dark solitons exist in superfluid Fermi gases. The energy-velocity dispersion and number of depleted particles completely determine the dynamics of dark solitons on a slowly varying background density. For the unitary Fermi gas, we determine these relations from general scaling arguments and conservation of local particle number. We find solitons to oscillate sinusoidally at the trap frequency reduced by a factor of

1/\sqrt{3}

. Numerical integration of the time-dependent Bogoliubov--de Gennes equation determines spatial profiles and soliton-dispersion relations across the BEC-BCS crossover, and proves consistent with the scaling relations at unitarity.