Pairing of Opposite-Spin Fermions in the BCS-BEC Crossover Regime

Hiroyuki Tajima, Ryo Hanai, Yoji Ohashi

Renyuan Liao

G. N. Bremm, M. A. Contínentino, Tobias Micklitz

We study the crossover from the weak coupling Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) state to Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) at strong coupling in a two-band superconductor with orbitals of opposite parity coexisting at a common Fermi surface in the metallic state. In such systems hybridization can play a role similar to spin-orbit interaction in fermionic spinor gases, enhancing interband pairing and opening the possibility for driving the BCS-BEC crossover. Building on a mean-field analysis, we investigate the BCS-BEC crossover induced by a variation of the hybridization strength. We show that the relevant scale for the crossover depends strongly on the ratio of effective masses, with the crossover favored in systems with one dispersive and one flat band. Including the effect of thermal pair fluctuations in a one-loop approximation, we calculate the dependence of the critical temperature on the microscopic parameters in the strong coupling regime.

Giancarlo Calvanese Strinati

Giancarlo Calvanese Strinati

This chapter provides a concise account of the salient features of the BCS–BEC crossover. After a brief historical review of the topic, the key features of the BCS–BEC crossover are recalled. In particular, the BCS wave function for the ground state is shown to contain the BEC state of composite bosons as a limiting situation, and the special role played in this context by the chemical potential is pointed out. The need for pairing fluctuations beyond mean field is also emphasized, together with the occurrence of two (coupling and temperature dependent) lengths, which measure the correlation either within a pair of fermions with opposite spins or among different pairs. The limiting physical situations corresponding to the Ginzburg–Landau and Gross–Pitaevskii equations are finally considered.

L. Pisani, P. Pieri, Giancarlo Calvanese Strinati

The equation for the gap parameter represents the main equation of the pairing theory of superconductivity. Although it is formally defined through a single-particle property, physically, it reflects the pairing correlations between opposite-spin fermions. Here, we exploit this physical connection and cast the gap equation in an alternative form which explicitly highlights these two-particle correlations by showing that it is equivalent to a Hugenholtz-Pines condition for fermion pairs. At a formal level, a direct connection is established in this way between the treatment of the condensate fraction in condensate systems of fermions and bosons. At a practical level, the use of this alternative form of the gap equation is expected to make easier the inclusion of pairing fluctuations beyond mean field. As a proof-of-concept of the new method, we apply the modified form of the gap equation to the long-pending problem about the inclusion of the Gorkov-Melik-Barkhudarov correction across the whole BCS-BEC crossover, from the BCS limit of strongly overlapping Cooper pairs to the BEC limit of dilute composite bosons, and for all temperatures in the superfluid phase. Our numerical calculations yield excellent agreement with the recently determined experimental values of the gap parameter for an ultracold Fermi gas in the intermediate regime between BCS and BEC, as well as with the available quantum Monte Carlo data in the same regime.