We develop a method for treating the
N-fermion problem as a system of correlated pairs of particles. Coherent pair states are introduced and a variational as well as a secular method are discussed for providing upper bounds to the exact ground state and approximations to the low lying spectra. Specific applications to two soluble models are presented. For these models the coherent correlated pair method is superior to the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer approximation and to the Hartree-Fock approximation and in fact yields the exact solutions for all particle numbers and sufficiently large coupling constants.NUCLEAR STRUCTURE Correlated pairs; coherent states; upper bound to ground state energy; applications to soluble
N-fermion models.
Neutron-proton pairing correlations are studied within the context of two solvable models, one based on the algebra SO(5) and the other on the algebra SO(8). In both of these models, particles interact in
L=0 pairs only. Boson-mapping techniques are applied to these models and shown to provide a convenient methodological tool both for solving such problems and for gaining useful insight into general features of pairing. We first focus on the SO(5) model, which involves generalized
T=1 pairing. Neither boson mean-field methods nor fermion-pair approximations are able to describe in detail neutron-proton pairing in this model. The analysis suggests, however, that the boson Hamiltonian obtained from a mapping of the fermion Hamiltonian contains a pairing force between bosons, pointing to the importance of boson-boson (or equivalently four-fermion) correlations with isospin
T=0 and spin
S=0. These correlations are investigated by carrying out a second boson mapping. Closed forms for the fermion wave functions are given in terms of the fermion-pair operators. Similar techniques are applied---albeit in less detail---to the SO(8) model, involving a competition between
T=1 and
T=0 pairing. Conclusions similar to those of the SO(5) analysis are reached regarding the importance of four-particle correlations in systems involving neutron-proton pairing.
Attractively interacting two-component mixtures of fermionic particles confined in a one-dimensional harmonic trap are investigated. Properties of balanced and imbalanced systems are systematically explored with the exact diagonalization approach, focusing on the finite-temperature effects. Using single- and two-particle density distributions, specific non-classical pairing correlations are analyzed in terms of the noise correlations-quantity directly accessible in state-of-the-art experiments with ultra-cold atoms. It is shown that along with increasing temperature, any imbalanced system hosting Fulde-Ferrel-Larkin-Ovchinnikov pairs crossovers to a standard Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer one characterized by zero net momentum of resulting pairs. By performing calculations for systems with different imbalances, the approximate boundary between the two phases on a phase diagram is determined.