We determine the adiabatic phase diagrams for a resonantly-coupled system of Fermi atoms and Bose molecules confined in a harmonic trap by using the local density approximation. The key idea of our work is conservation of entropy through the adiabatic process. We also calculate the molecular conversion efficiency as a function of the initial temperature. Our work helps to understand recent experiments on the BCS-BEC crossover, in terms of the initial temperature measured before a sweep of the magnetic field.
We determine the adiabatic phase diagram of a resonantly-coupled system of Fermi atoms and Bose molecules confined in the harmonic trap by using the local density approximation. The adiabatic phase diagram shows the fermionic condensate fraction composed of condensed molecules and Cooper pair atoms. The key idea of our work is conservation of entropy through the adiabatic process, extending the study of Williams et al. [Williams et al., New J. Phys. 6, 123 (2004)] for an ideal gas mixture to include the resonant interaction in a mean-field theory. We also calculate the molecular conversion efficiency as a function of initial temperature. Our work helps to understand recent experiments on the BCS-BEC crossover, in terms of the initial temperature measured before a sweep of the magnetic field.
The problem of molecular production from degenerate gas of fermions at a wide Feshbach resonance, in a single-mode approximation, is reduced to the linear Landau-Zener problem for operators. The strong interaction leads to significant renormalization of the gap between adiabatic levels. In contrast to static problem the close vicinity of exact resonance does not play substantial role. Two main physical results of our theory is the high sensitivity of molecular production to the initial value of magnetic field and generation of a large BCS condensate distributed over a broad range of momenta in inverse process of the molecule dissociation.
We present a model space particle-hole Greens function calculation for the quadrupole excitations of cold Fermi gas near Feshbach resonance using a simple model where atoms are confined in a harmonic oscillator potential. Both the Tamm-Dancoff and random phase approximations are employed. By summing up exactly the ladder diagrams between a pair of interacting atoms to all orders, we obtain a renormalized atomic interaction which has well defined and identical limits as the scattering length tends to $pm infty$. The experimentally observed abrupt rise in the excitation spectrum and its associated large decay width are satisfactorily reproduced by our calculation.
Within the framework of the variational approach the ground state is studied in a gas of Fermi atoms near the Feshbach resonance at negative scattering length. The structure of the originating superfluid state is formed by two coherently bound subsystems. One subsystem is that of quasi molecules in the closed channel and the other is a system of pairs of atoms in the open channel. The set of equations derived allows us to describe the properties of the ground state at an arbitrary magnitude of the parameters. In particular, it allows one to find a gap in the spectrum of single-particle Fermi excitations and sound velocity characterizing a branch of collective Bose excitations.
We present a nonequilibrium kinetic theory describing atom-molecule population dynamics in a two-component Fermi gas with a Feshbach resonance. Key collision integrals emerge that govern the relaxation of the atom-molecule mixture to chemical and thermal equilibrium. Our focus is on the pseudogap regime where molecules form above the superfluid transition temperature. In this regime, we formulate a simple model for the atom-molecule population dynamics. The model predicts the saturation of molecule formation that has been observed in recent experiments, and indicates that a dramatic enhancement of the atom-molecule conversion efficiency occurs at low temperatures.