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arXiv:1602.07391 · Physical Review A

Beyond Gaussian pair fluctuation theory for strongly interacting Fermi gases

Brendan C. Mulkerin, Xia-Ji Liu, Hui Hu

Published Jul 18, 2016• 7 citations
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Abstract

Interacting Fermi systems in the strongly correlated regime play a fundamental role in many areas of physics and are of particular interest to the condensed matter community. Though weakly interacting fermions are understood, strongly correlated fermions are difficult to describe theoretically as there is no small interaction parameter to expand about. Existing strong-coupling theories rely heavily on the so-called many-body $T$-matrix approximation that sums ladder-type Feynman diagrams. Here, by acknowledging the fact that the effective interparticle interaction (i.e., the vertex function) becomes smaller above three dimensions, we propose an alternative way to reorganize Feynman diagrams and develop a theoretical framework for interacting Fermi gases beyond the ladder approximation. As an application, we solve the equation of state for three- and two-dimensional strongly interacting fermions and find excellent agreement with experimental [M. J. H. Ku et al., Science 335, 563 (2012)] and other theoretical results above temperatures of $0.5{T}_{F}$.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.94.013610

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We theoretically study the thermodynamic properties of a strongly interacting Fermi gas at the crossover from a Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) superfluid to a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), by applying a recently outlined strong-coupling theory that includes pair fluctuations beyond the commonly-used many-body TTT -matrix or ladder approximation at the Gaussian level. The beyond Gaussian pair fluctuation (GPF) theory always respects the exact thermodynamic relations and recovers the Bogoliubov theory of molecules in the BEC limit with a nearly correct molecule-molecule scattering length. We show that the beyond-GPF theory predicts quantitatively accurate ground-state properties at the BEC-BCS crossover, in good agreement with the recent measurement by Horikoshi et al. in Phys. Rev. X 7, 041004 (2017). In the unitary limit with infinitely large sss -wave scattering length, the beyond-GPF theory predicts a reliable universal energy equation of state up to 0.6 TcT_cTc​ , where TcT_cTc​ is the superfluid transition temperature at unitarity. The theory predicts a Bertsch parameter ξ≃0.365\xi \simeq 0.365ξ≃0.365 at zero temperature, in good agreement with the latest quantum Monte Carlo result ξ=0.367(7)\xi = 0.367(7)ξ=0.367(7) and the latest experimental measurement ξ=0.367(9)\xi = 0.367(9)ξ=0.367(9) . We attribute the excellent and wide applicability of the beyond-GPF theory in the broken-symmetry phase at sufficiently low temperatures to the empirically useful partial re-summation of Feynman diagrams following a dimensional ϵ\epsilonϵ -expansion analysis near four dimensions ( d=4−ϵd=4-\epsilond=4−ϵ ), which gives rise to accurate predictions at the second order O(ϵ2)\mathcal{O}(\epsilon^2)O(ϵ2) . Our work indicates the possibility of further improving the strong-coupling theory of strongly interacting fermions based on the systematic inclusion of large-loop Feynman diagrams at higher orders O(ϵn)\mathcal{O}(\epsilon^n)O(ϵn) with n≥3n\ge 3n≥3 .
Understanding the formation of Cooper pairs and the resulting thermodynamic properties of low-dimensional Fermi gases is an important area of research, which may help build our understanding of other low-dimensional systems, such as high-temperature superconductors. In lower dimensions, quantum fluctuations are expected to play an increasingly important role, and the reliability of strong-coupling theories becomes questionable. Here, we present a comparison of recent thermodynamic measurements and theoretical predictions from different many-body TTT-matrix theories for a two-dimensional strongly interacting Fermi gas in the normal state. We find that the fully self-consistent TTT-matrix theory provides the best description of the experimental data over a wide range of temperatures and interatomic interactions.
Strongly interacting, dilute Fermi gases exhibit a scale-invariant, universal thermodynamic behavior. This is notoriously difficult to understand theoretically because of the absence of a small interaction parameter. Here, we present a systematic comparison of theoretical predictions from different quantum many-body theories with recent experimental data of Nascimbne et al (2010 Nature 463 1057). Our comparisons have no adjustable parameters, either theoretically or experimentally. All the model approximations seem to fluctuate rather than converge on the experimental data. It turns out that a simple Gaussian pair fluctuation theory gives the best quantitative agreement, except at the critical superfluid transition region. In the normal state, we also calculate the equation of state by using a quantum cluster expansion theory and explore in detail its applicability to low temperatures. Using the accurate experimental result for the thermodynamic function S ( T ), we determine the temperature T of a trapped Fermi gas at unitarity as a function of a non-interacting temperature T i , which can be obtained by an adiabatic sweep to the free gas limit. By analyzing the recent experimental data, we find a characteristic temperature ( T / T F ) 0 =0.19±0.02 or ( T i / T F ) 0 =0.16±0.02 in a harmonic trap, below which there are deviations from normal Fermi-liquid-like behavior that may be attributed to pairing effects. Here, T F is the Fermi temperature for a trapped ideal, non-interacting Fermi gas. Our thorough comparison may shed light on the further theoretical development of strongly interacting fermions.
Fermi gases with generalized Rashba spin-orbit coupling induced by a synthetic gauge field have the potential of realizing many interesting states, such as rashbon condensates and topological phases. Here, we address the key open problem of the fluctuation theory of such systems and demonstrate that beyond-Gaussian effects are essential to capture the finite temperature physics of such systems. We obtain their phase diagram by constructing an approximate non-Gaussian theory. We conclusively establish that spin-orbit coupling can enhance the exponentially small transition temperature (Tc{T}_{c}Tc​) of a weakly attracting superfluid to the order of the Fermi temperature, paving a pathway towards high Tc{T}_{c}Tc​ superfluids.
Fermi gases with generalized Rashba spin-orbit coupling induced by a synthetic gauge field have the potential of realizing many interesting states, such as rashbon condensates and topological phases. Here, we address the key open problem of the fluctuation theory of such systems and demonstrate that beyond-Gaussian effects are essential to capture the finite temperature physics of such systems. We obtain their phase diagram by constructing an approximate non-Gaussian theory. We conclusively establish that spin-orbit coupling can enhance the exponentially small transition temperature (T-c) of a weakly attracting superfluid to the order of the Fermi temperature, paving a pathway towards high T-c superfluids.
The study of strongly correlated quantum gases in two dimensions has important ramifications for understanding many intriguing phenomena in solid materials, such as high-Tc{T}_{c}Tc​ superconductivity and the fractional quantum-Hall effect. However, theoretical methods are plagued by the existence of significant quantum fluctuations. Here, we present two- and three-body exact solutions for both fermions and bosons trapped in a two-dimensional harmonic potential with an arbitrary sss-wave scattering length. These few-particle solutions link in a natural way to the high-temperature properties of many-particle systems via a quantum virial expansion. As a concrete example, using the energy spectrum of few fermions, we calculate the second and third virial coefficients of a strongly interacting Fermi gas in two dimensions, and consequently investigate its high-temperature thermodynamics. Our thermodynamic results may be useful for ongoing experiments on two-dimensional Fermi gases. These exact results also provide an unbiased benchmark for quantum Monte Carlo simulations of two-dimensional Fermi gases at high temperatures.