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arXiv:1205.3221 · Physical Review Letters

Degeneracies in Trapped Two-Component Fermi Gases

K. M. Daily, Debraj Rakshit, D. Blume

Published Jul 17, 2012• 12 citations
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Abstract

We report on previously unobserved intersystem degeneracies in two-component equal-mass Fermi gases with interspecies zero-range interactions under isotropic harmonic confinement. Over the past 10 years, two-component Fermi gases consisting of n1 spin-up and n2 spin-down atoms with interspecies zero-range interactions have become a paradigm for modeling condensed matter systems, nuclear matter, and neutron matter. We show that the eigenenergies of the (n1 + 1, n2 - 1) system are degenerate with the eigenenergies of the (n1, n2) system for any s-wave scattering length a(s), including infinitely large, positive, and negative a(s). The existence of the intersystem degeneracies is demonstrated explicitly for few-body systems with n1 + n2 = 4, 5, and 6. The degeneracies and associated symmetries are explained within a group theoretical framework.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.109.030401

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We report on previously unobserved intersystem degeneracies in two-component equal-mass Fermi gases with interspecies zero-range interactions under isotropic harmonic confinement. Over the past 10 years, two-component Fermi gases consisting of n1 spin-up and n2 spin-down atoms with interspecies zero-range interactions have become a paradigm for modeling condensed matter systems, nuclear matter, and neutron matter. We show that the eigenenergies of the (n1 + 1, n2 - 1) system are degenerate with the eigenenergies of the (n1, n2) system for any s-wave scattering length a(s), including infinitely large, positive, and negative a(s). The existence of the intersystem degeneracies is demonstrated explicitly for few-body systems with n1 + n2 = 4, 5, and 6. The degeneracies and associated symmetries are explained within a group theoretical framework.
We investigate small equal-mass two-component Fermi gases under external spherically symmetric confinement in which atoms with opposite spins interact through a short-range two-body model potential. We employ a non-perturbative microscopic framework, the stochastic variational approach, and determine the system properties as functions of the interspecies s -wave scattering length a s , the orbital angular momentum L of the system, and the numbers N 1 and N 2 of spin-up and spin-down atoms (with N 1 − N 2 = 0 or 1 and N ⩽ 6 , where N = N 1 + N 2 ). At unitarity, we determine the energies of the five- and six-particle systems for various ranges r 0 of the underlying two-body model potential and extrapolate to the zero-range limit. These energies serve as benchmark results that can be used to validate and assess other numerical approaches. We also present structural properties such as the pair distribution function and the radial density. Furthermore, we analyze the one-body and two-body density matrices. A measure for the molecular condensate fraction is proposed and applied. Our calculations show explicitly that the natural orbitals and the momentum distributions of atomic Fermi gases approach those characteristic for a molecular Bose gas if the s -wave scattering length a s , a s > 0 , is sufficiently small.
Two-component equal-mass Fermi gases, in which unlike atoms interact through a short-range two-body potential and like atoms do not interact, are stable even when the interspecies sss-wave scattering length becomes infinitely large. Solving the many-body Schr\"odinger equation within a hyperspherical framework and by Monte Carlo techniques, this paper investigates how the properties of trapped two-component gases change if a third or fourth component are added. If all interspecies scattering lengths are equal and negative, our calculations suggest that both three- and four-component Fermi gases become unstable for a certain critical set of parameters. The relevant length scale associated with the collapse is set by the interspecies scattering length and we argue that the collapse is similar to the collapse of an attractive trapped Bose gas, a many-body phenomenon. Furthermore, we consider a three-component Fermi gas in which two interspecies scattering lengths are negative while the other interspecies scattering length is zero. In this case, the stability of the Fermi system is predicted to depend appreciably on the range of the underlying two-body potential. We find parameter combinations for which the system appears to become unstable for a finite negative scattering length and parameter combinations for which the system appears to be made up of weakly bound trimers that consist of one fermion of each species.
We treat small trapped unequal-mass two-component Fermi gases at unitarity within a nonperturbative microscopic framework and investigate the system properties as functions of the mass ratio κ, and the numbers N1 and N2 of heavy and light fermions. While equal-mass Fermi gases with infinitely large interspecies s-wave scattering length a(s) are universal, we find that unequal-mass Fermi gases are, for sufficiently large κ and in the regime where Efimov physics is absent, not universal. In particular, the (N₁,N₂) = (2, 1) and (3, 1) systems exhibit three-body and four-body resonances at κ=12.314(2) and 10.4(2), respectively, as well as surprisingly large finite-range effects. These findings have profound implications for ongoing experimental efforts and quantum simulation proposals that utilize unequal-mass atomic Fermi gases.
Equal-mass two-component Fermi gases under spherically symmetric external harmonic confinement with large sss-wave scattering length are considered. Using the stochastic variational approach, we determine the lowest 286 and 164 relative eigenenergies of the (2,2)(2,2)(2,2) and (3,1)(3,1)(3,1) systems at unitarity as a function of the range r0{r}_{0}r0​ of the underlying two-body potential and extrapolate to the ${r}_{0}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$ limit. Our calculations include all states with vanishing and finite angular momentum LLL (and natural and unnatural parity $\ensuremath{\Pi}$) with relative energy up to 10.5 $\ensuremath{\hbar}\ensuremath{\Omega}$, where $\ensuremath{\Omega}$ denotes the angular trapping frequency of the external confinement. Our extrapolated zero-range energies are estimated to have uncertainties of 0.1% or smaller. The (2,2)(2,2)(2,2) and (3,1)(3,1)(3,1) energies are used to determine the fourth-order virial coefficient of the trapped unitary two-component Fermi gas in the low-temperature regime. Our results are compared with recent predictions for the fourth-order virial coefficient of the homogeneous system. We also calculate small portions of the energy spectra of the (3,2)(3,2)(3,2) and (4,1)(4,1)(4,1) systems at unitarity.
We consider mass-imbalanced two-component Fermi gases for which the unequal-mass atoms interact via a zero-range model potential with a diverging sss-wave scattering length as{a}_{s}as​, that is, with 1/as=01/{a}_{s}=01/as​=0. The high-temperature thermodynamics of the harmonically trapped and homogeneous systems are examined using a virial expansion approach up to third order in the fugacity. We find that the universal part of the third-order virial coefficient associated with two light atoms and one heavy atom is negative, while that associated with two heavy and one light atom changes sign from negative to positive as the mass ratio $\ensuremath{\kappa}$ increases and diverges when Efimov physics sets in at $\ensuremath{\kappa}=13.61$. By examining the Helmholtz free energy, we find that the equilibrium polarization of the trapped and homogeneous systems is 0 for $\ensuremath{\kappa}=1$, but finite for $\ensuremath{\kappa}\ensuremath{\ne}1$ (with a majority of heavy particles). Compared to the equilibrium polarization of the noninteracting system, the equilibrium polarization at unitarity is increased for the trapped system and decreased for the homogeneous system. We find that unequal-mass Fermi gases are stable for all polarizations.
The properties of two-component Fermi gases become universal if the interspecies sss-wave scattering length as{a}_{s}as​ and the average interparticle spacing are much larger than the range of the underlying two-body potential. Using an explicitly correlated Gaussian basis set expansion approach, we determine the eigenenergies of two-component Fermi gases in a cubic box with periodic boundary conditions as functions of the interspecies sss-wave scattering length and the effective range of the two-body potential. The universal properties of systems consisting of up to four particles are determined by extrapolating the finite-range energies to the zero-range limit. We determine the eigenenergies of states with vanishing and finite momenta. In the weakly attractive BCS regime, we analyze the energy spectra and degeneracies using first-order degenerate perturbation theory. Excellent agreement between the perturbative energy shifts and the numerically determined energies is obtained. For the infinitely large scattering length case, we compare our results---where available---with those presented in the literature.