arXiv:1107.2740 · Physical Review A
High-temperature thermodynamics of strongly interacting s -wave and p -wave Fermi gases in a harmonic trap
Shi-Guo Peng, Shiqun Li, P. D. Drummond, Xia-Ji Liu
Abstract
We theoretically investigate the high-temperature thermodynamics of a strongly interacting trapped Fermi gas near either $s$-wave or $p$-wave Feshbach resonances, using a second-order quantum virial expansion. The second virial coefficient is calculated based on the energy spectrum of two interacting fermions in a harmonic trap. We consider both isotropic and anisotropic harmonic potentials. For the two-fermion interaction, either $s$-wave or $p$-wave, we use a pseudopotential parametrized by a scattering length and an effective range. This turns out to be the simplest way of encoding the energy dependence of the low-energy scattering amplitude or phase shift. This treatment of the pseudopotential can be easily generalized to higher partial-wave interactions. We discuss how the second virial coefficient and thermodynamics are affected by the existence of these finite-range interaction effects. The virial expansion result for a strongly interacting $s$-wave Fermi gas has already been proved very useful. In the case of $p$-wave interactions, our results for the high-temperature equation of state are applicable to future high-precision thermodynamic measurements for a spin-polarized Fermi gas near a $p$-wave Feshbach resonance.