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arXiv:1212.0046 · Physical Review A

Thomas–Fermi–von Weizsäcker theory for a harmonically trapped, two-dimensional, spin-polarized dipolar Fermi gas

Brandon P. van Zyl, E. Zaremba, P. Pisarski

Published Apr 10, 2013• 22 citations
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Abstract

We systematically develop a density functional description for the equilibrium properties of a two-dimensional, harmonically trapped, spin-polarized dipolar Fermi gas based on the Thomas--Fermi--von Weizs\"acker approximation. We pay particular attention to the construction of the two-dimensional kinetic energy functional, where corrections beyond the local density approximation must be motivated with care. We also present an intuitive derivation of the interaction energy functional associated with the dipolar interactions and provide physical insight into why it can be represented as a local functional. Finally, a simple and highly efficient self-consistent numerical procedure is developed to determine the equilibrium density of the system for a range of dipole interaction strengths.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.87.043614

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We systematically develop a density functional description for the equilibrium properties of a two-dimensional, harmonically trapped, spin-polarized dipolar Fermi gas based on the Thomas--Fermi--von Weizs"acker approximation. We pay particular attention to the construction of the two-dimensional kinetic energy functional, where corrections beyond the local density approximation must be motivated with care. We also present an intuitive derivation of the interaction energy functional associated with the dipolar interactions and provide physical insight into why it can be represented as a local functional. Finally, a simple and highly efficient self-consistent numerical procedure is developed to determine the equilibrium density of the system for a range of dipole interaction strengths.
We derive the density functional for the ground-state energy of a two-dimensional, spin-polarized gas of neutral fermionic atoms with magnetic-dipole interaction, in the Thomas-Fermi-Dirac approximation. For many atoms in a harmonic trap, we give analytical solutions for the single-particle spatial density and the ground-state energy, in dependence on the interaction strength, and we discuss the weak-interaction limit that is relevant for experiments. We then lift the restriction of full spin polarization and account for a time-independent inhomogeneous external magnetic field. The field strength necessary to ensure full spin polarization is derived.
The collective excitations of a zero-temperature, spin-polarized, harmonically trapped, two-dimensional dipolar Fermi gas are examined within the Thomas-Fermi--von Weizs\"acker hydrodynamic theory. We focus on repulsive interactions and investigate the dependence of the excitation frequencies on the strength of the dipolar interaction and particle number. We find that the mode spectrum can be classified according to bulk modes, whose frequencies are shifted upward as the interaction strength is increased, and an infinite ladder of surface modes, whose frequencies are independent of the interactions in the large particle limit. We argue quite generally that it is the local character of the two-dimensional energy density that is responsible for the insensitivity of surface excitations to the dipolar interaction strength and not the precise form of the equation of state. This property will not be found for the collective excitations of harmonically trapped, dipolar Fermi gases in one and three dimensions, where the energy density is manifestly nonlocal.
The average-density approximation is used to construct a nonlocal kinetic energy functional for an inhomogeneous two-dimensional Fermi gas. This functional is then used to formulate a Thomas-Fermi-von Weizs\"acker-like theory for the description of the ground-state properties of the system. The quality of the kinetic energy functional is tested by performing a fully self-consistent calculation for an ideal, harmonically confined, two-dimensional system. Good agreement with exact results are found, with the number and kinetic energy densities exhibiting oscillatory structure associated with the nonlocality of the energy functional. Most importantly, this functional shows a marked improvement over the two-dimensional Thomas-Fermi von Weizs\"acker theory, particularly in the vicinity of the classically forbidden region.
Under the framework of the semiclassical theory, we investigate the equilibrium-state properties of a spin polarized dipolar Fermi gas through full numerical calculation. We show that the Fermi surfaces in both real and momentum spaces are stretched along the attractive direction of dipolar interaction. We further verify that the deformed Fermi surfaces can be well approximated by ellipsoids. In addition, the deformation parameters slightly depend on the local real- and momentum-space densities. We also study the interaction strength dependence of the energy and real- and momentum-space densities. By comparing them with variational results, we find that the ellipsoidal ansatz usually generates accurate results for weak dipolar interaction, while under strong dipolar interaction limit, notable discrepancy can be observed. Finally, we map out the stability boundary of the system.
We present exact analytical results for the thermodyanmic properties of a two-dimensional (2D), harmonically trapped charged quantum gas in a magnetic field. While our results are applicable to both Fermi and Bose gases, we focus our attention on trapped fermions owing to their relevant application in the density-functional theory of inhomogeneous Fermi systems. In particular, we test the Thomas–Fermi (or continuum) approximation (TFA) for the functional relation τ[ρ] using the exact ρ( r ) and show that it reproduces the local and global properties of the exact kinetic energy density τ( r ) surprisingly well. However, when we compare our exact results for various thermodynamic quantities with the TFA, we find that it misses several important features. These deviations are shown to be entirely due to the quantum mechanical properties of the system, which are not accounted for in the continuum approximation.
We investigate the behavior of polarized dipolar fermions in a two-dimensional harmonic trap in the framework of the density functional theory (DFT) formalism using the local density approximation. We treat only a few particles interacting moderately. Important results were deduced concerning key characteristics of the system such as total energy and particle density. Our results indicate that, at variance with Coulombic systems, the exchange- correlation component was found to provide a large contribution to the total energy for a large range of interaction strengths and particle numbers. In addition, the density profiles of the dipoles are shown to display important features around the origin that is not possible to capture by earlier, simpler treatments of such systems.