We theoretically investigate the thermodynamic stability of a normal-state Bose-Fermi mixture, with a tunable Bose-Fermi pairing interaction $\ensuremath{-}{U}_{\mathrm{BF}}<0$ associated with a heteronuclear Feshbach resonance, as well as a weak repulsive Bose-Bose interaction ${U}_{\mathrm{BB}}\ensuremath{\ge}0$. Including strong heteropairing fluctuations associated with the former interaction within the self-consistent
T-matrix approximation, as well as the latter within the mean-field level, we calculate the compressibility matrix, to assess the stability of this system against density fluctuations. In the weak- and the intermediate-coupling regimes with respect to $\ensuremath{-}{U}_{\mathrm{BF}}$, we show that an effective attractive interaction between bosons mediated by density fluctuations in the Fermi component makes the system unstable below a certain temperature
Tclp (leading to density collapse). When
UBB=0,Tclp is always higher than the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) temperature
Tc. When
UBB>0, the density collapse is suppressed, and the BEC transition becomes possible. It is also suppressed by the formation of tightly bound Bose-Fermi molecules when the heteropairing interaction $\ensuremath{-}{U}_{\mathrm{BF}}$ is strong; however, since the system may be viewed as a molecular Fermi gas in this case, the BEC transition does not also occur. Since quantum gases involving Bose atoms are known to be sensitive to interparticle correlations, our results would be useful for the study of many-body properties of a Bose-Fermi mixture in a stable manner, without facing the unwanted density collapse.
We study the dynamical behavior of a Bose-Fermi mixture of trapped atomic gases which exhibits phase separation for a sufficiently strong repulsive interparticle interaction. For a dominantly bosonic mixture, the fermion density distribution and the associated single-particle spectra undergo a rapid change around the transition to the separated phase. Monopole strength distribution is studied in the random-phase approximation. The average energy calculated from the fermionic monopole strength shows a sharp minimum close to the transition point. The dynamical origin of the fermion single particle and collective properties is studied within a simple approximation.
We theoretically investigate normal-state properties of a gas mixture of single-component bosons and fermions with a hetero-nuclear Feshbach resonance. Including strong hetero-pairing fluctuations associated with the Feshbach resonance, we calculate single-particle density of states, as well as the spectral weight at various interaction strengths. For this purpose, we employ an improved T-matrix approximation (TMA), where the bare Bose Green's function in the non-selfconsistent TMA self-energy is modified so as to satisfy the Hugenholtz-Pines relation at the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) temperature
TBEC. In the unitary regime at
TBEC, we show that hetero-pairing fluctuations couple Fermi atomic excitations with Fermi molecular excitations, as well as with Bose atomic excitations. Although a similar coupling phenomenon by pairing fluctuations is known to give a pseudo-gapped density of states in the unitary regime of a two-component Fermi gas, such a dip structure is found to not appear even in the unitary limit of a Bose-Fermi mixture. It only appears in the strong-coupling regime. Instead, a spectral peak along the molecular dispersion appears in the spectral weight.We also clarify how this coupling phenomenon is seen in the Bose channel. Since a hetero-nuclear Feshbach resonance, as well as the formation of Bose-Fermi molecules, have been realized, our results would be useful for the study of strong-coupling properties of this unique quantum gas.