Quantum Monte Carlo in the study of dilute bosonic and fermionic gases

Vamsi K. Akkineni, David M. Ceperley, Nandini Trivedi

C. Lavalle, Marcos Rigol, M. Feldbacher +3 more

G. E. Astrakharchik

This Dissertation presents results of a thorough study of ultracold bosonic and fermionic gases in three-dimensional and quasi-one-dimensional systems. Although the analyses are carried out within various theoretical frameworks (Gross-Pitaevskii, Bethe ansatz, local density approximation, etc.) the main tool of the study is the Quantum Monte Carlo method in different modifications (variational Monte Carlo, diffusion Monte Carlo, fixed-node Monte Carlo methods). We benchmark our Monte Carlo calculations by recovering known analytical results (perturbative theories in dilute limits, exactly solvable models, etc.) and extend calculations to regimes, where the results are so far unknown. In particular we calculate the equation of state and correlation functions for gases in various geometries and with various interatomic interactions.

Joseph Carlson

Dilute Fermi gases with large scattering lengths are intriguing physical systems which are just now becoming accessible in laboratory experiments with cold trapped atoms. Their properties are closely related to those of the dilute neutron‐rich matter which may be present in the surface of neutron stars. Fermi systems with such strong short‐range attractive forces lie between traditional BCS theories with small gaps and those where the fermions are tightly bound into pairs, yielding composite bosons. We discuss the Quantum Monte Carlo methods used to study such systems, and report results for the ground‐state energy, the superfluid gap, and other properties. In particular, we compare results with those of neutron matter at subnuclear densities.

R. Lee, N. D. Drummond

I. Morgenstern