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arXiv:2410.20866

Open questions for strongly interacting Fermi gases with zero-range interactions

Yvan Castin

Published Oct 28, 2024• 0 citations
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Abstract

We review some unresolved theoretical issues in three-dimensional two-component Fermi gases, drawing on recent experiments on cold atoms in immaterial traps close to a magnetic Feshbach resonance. We distinguish successively (i) the open questions arising in the few-body problem with Wigner-Bethe-Peierls contact interactions - essentially the stability of the gas with respect to the Efimov effect and the calculation of the cluster (or virial) coefficients, (ii) those arising in the effective low-energy theory of Landau and Khalatnikov quantum hydrodynamics - essentially the damping of phonon modes and the coherence time of the condensate of pairs, and finally (iii) questions requiring a complete, microscopic solution of the many-body problem, such as the specific properties of the acoustic excitation branch (Goldstone) of the condensate of pairs, or its collective excitation branch (Higgs) in the broken-pair continuum.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2410.20866

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We review some unresolved theoretical issues in three-dimensional two-component Fermi gases, drawing on recent experiments on cold atoms in immaterial traps close to a magnetic Feshbach resonance. We distinguish successively (i) the open questions arising in the few-body problem with Wigner-Bethe-Peierls contact interactions - essentially the stability of the gas with respect to the Efimov effect and the calculation of the cluster (or virial) coefficients, (ii) those arising in the effective low-energy theory of Landau and Khalatnikov quantum hydrodynamics - essentially the damping of phonon modes and the coherence time of the condensate of pairs, and finally (iii) questions requiring a complete, microscopic solution of the many-body problem, such as the specific properties of the acoustic excitation branch (Goldstone) of the condensate of pairs, or its collective excitation branch (Higgs) in the broken-pair continuum.
We give exact integral expressions of the third cluster or virial coefficients of binary mixtures of ideal Bose or Fermi gases, with interspecies interactions of zero range and infinite s-wave scattering length. In general the result depends on three-body parameters Rt appearing in three-body contact conditions, because an Efimov effect is present or because the mixture is in a preefimovian regime with a mass ratio close to an Efimov effect threshold. We give a new, exact integral expression of Rt for the microscopic narrow Feshbach resonance model. A divergence of Rt in the preefimovian regime at a scaling exponent s = 1/2 is predicted and physically discussed. The analytical results are applied to typical species used in cold atom experiments.
We review the current understanding of the uniform two-dimensional (2D) Fermi gas with short-range interactions. We first outline the basics of two-body scattering in 2D, including a discussion of how such a 2D system may be realized in practice using an anisotropic confining potential. We then discuss the thermodynamic and dynamical properties of 2D Fermi gases, which cold-atom experiments have only just begun to explore. Of particular interest are the different pairing regimes as the interparticle attraction is varied; the superfluid transition and associated finite-temperature phenomenology; few-body properties and their impact on the many-body system; the Fermi polaron problem; and the symmetries underlying the collective modes. Where possible, we include the contributions from 2D experiment. An underlying theme throughout is the effect of the quasi-2D geometry, which we view as an added richness to the problem rather than an unwanted complication.
Advances in trapping and cooling of ultracold gases over the last several decades have made it possible to test many formerly outstanding predictions from disparate branches of physics. This thesis touches on three historical problems that have found new life recently in the context of ultracold Bose gases of alkali atoms. The first problem revolves around an outstanding prediction from Boltzmann over a century and half old that the breathing mode of a isotropically trapped classical gas should oscillate indefinitely. I analyze recent experimental results [Nat. Phys. 11, 1009 (2015)], and attribute observed damping sources to trap imperfections. The second question is about the analogue of first and second sound modes from liquid helium in trapped dilute gases. I present the results of a joint theoretical/experimental investigation of the breathing mode of a finite temperature Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), attributing a striking collapse revival behavior of the resultant oscillation to in-phase and out-of-phase normal modes of the thermal cloud and condensate. The third problem is that of the formation of Borromean ring-like three-body bound states, referred to as Efimov trimers, in strongly-interacting few-body systems. I extend the predicted spectrum of Efimov states into the realm of many degenerate internal levels, and investigate the difficult three-body elastic scattering problem.\nThese questions are part of the broader theme of this thesis: How can our understanding of few-body physics in the ultracold limit be translated into statements about the bulk behavior of an ultracold gas? For weakly-interacting Bose gases, this translation is well-known: the many-body properties of the gas are well-described by the tracking just the one and two particle correlations. I analyze a generalization of this procedure to higher order correlations, the general connection between few-body physics and correlations in a dilute gas, and results for the emergence of Efimov physics in the magnetic phase of the strongly-interacting Bose gas.
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.
We present a general virial theorem for quantum particles with arbitrary zero-range or finite-range interactions in an arbitrary external potential. We deduce virial theorems for several situations relevant to trapped cold atoms: zero-range interactions with and without Efimov effect, hard spheres, narrow Feshbach resonances, and finite-range interactions. If the scattering length aaa is varied adiabatically in a two-component Fermi gas, we find that the trapping potential energy as a function of 1∕a1∕a1∕a has an inflexion point at unitarity.
We study ultracold gases of alkali-metal atoms in the quantum degenerate regime. The interatomic interactions in these type of systems can be tuned using resonances induced by magnetic or electric fields. The tunability of the interactions, together with the possibility of confining the atoms with several kinds of external potentials, allows for a completely novel approach to study basic problems in many-body physics, and moreover, allows to enter regimes which have never been accessible in condensed matter or nuclear physics. For example, this has led to the experimental demonstration of an intimate relation between two types of superfluidity: the crossover from Bose-Einstein condensation of tightly bound molecules to the superfluid behavior related to weakly bound BCS-like pairs. Another experimental landmark was reached when the existence of universal Efimov three-body bound states was proven in experiments with ultracold bosonic cesium atoms. In this thesis, we study several aspects of these strongly interacting and ultracold atomic gases. We develop an analytical model that encapsulates all of the relevant scattering physics in atomic systems where open-channel shape resonances and closedchannel Feshbach resonances give rise to complicated and non-trivial scattering properties. This model provides lots of physical insight and is shown to describe important quantities, such as the molecular energies and scattering phase shifts, with a high level of accuracy. The model is compared to full numerical coupled-channel calculations in two atomic systems: rubidium and lithium. We study the BCS-BEC crossover using a many-body description of the ultracold gas that includes the non-trivial energy dependence of the scattering model. We show that it gives rise to superfluid behavior associated with the formation of BCS-like pairs while the low-energy interactions are repulsive in character. The energy dependence of the interactions is crucial, as it gives rise to attractive interactions at the Fermi energy, necessary for the formation of Cooper pairs. We demonstrate new ways of controlling the interatomic interactions using a combination of magnetic and electric fields. This leads to experimental control of, for instance, the three-body parameter in the context of Efimov physics and of non-universal behavior in the BCS-BEC crossover in fermionic gases. Using a four-body method based on first principles, we solve the molecule-molecule scattering problem to calculate several important properties of bosonic and fermionic Summary 145 molecules that consist of light and heavy atoms. These type of molecules are of current experimental interest, and we predict several exciting relations between three- and four-body observables in these type of systems.