No Arabic abstract
We present a theory for a lattice array of weakly coupled one-dimensional ultracold attractive Fermi gases (1D `tubes) with spin imbalance, where strong intratube quantum fluctuations invalidate mean field theory. We first construct an effective field theory, which treats spin-charge mixing exactly, based on the Bethe ansatz solution of the 1D single tube problem. We show that the 1D Fulde-Ferrel-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) state is a two-component Luttinger liquid, and its elementary excitations are fractional states carrying both charge and spin. We analyze the instability of the 1D FFLO state against inter-tube tunneling by renormalization group analysis, and find that it flows into either a polarized Fermi liquid or a FFLO superfluid, depending on the magnitude of interaction strength and spin imbalance. We obtain the phase diagram of the quasi-1D system and further determine the scaling of the superfluid transition temperature with intertube coupling.
One-dimensional systems often possess multiple channels or bands arising from the excitation of transverse degrees of freedom. In the present work, we study the specific processes that dominate the equilibration of multi-channel Fermi gases at low temperatures. Focusing on the case of two channels, we perform an analysis of the relaxation properties of these systems by studying the spectrum and eigenmodes of the linearized collision integral. As an application of this analysis, a detailed calculation of the bulk viscosity is presented. The dominant scattering processes obey an unexpected conservation law which is likely to affect the hydrodynamic behavior of these systems.
Low-dimensional systems are beautiful examples of many-body quantum physics. For one-dimensional systems the Luttinger liquid approach provides insight into universal properties. Much is known of the equilibrium state, both in the weakly and strongly interacting regime. However, it remains a challenge to probe the dynamics by which this equilibrium state is reached. Here we present a direct experimental study of the coherence dynamics in both isolated and coupled degenerate 1d Bose gases. Dynamic splitting is used to create two 1d systems in a phase coherent state. The time evolution of the coherence is revealed in local phase shifts of the subsequently observed interference patterns. Completely isolated 1d Bose gases are observed to exhibit a universal sub-exponential coherence decay in excellent agreement with recent predictions by Burkov et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 200404 (2007)]. For two coupled 1d Bose gases the coherence factor is observed to approach a non-zero equilibrium value as predicted by a Bogoliubov approach. This coupled-system decay to finite coherence is the matter wave equivalent of phase locking two lasers by injection. The non-equilibrium dynamics of superfluids plays an important role in a wide range of physical systems, such as superconductors, quantum-Hall systems, superfluid Helium, and spin systems. Our experiments studying coherence dynamics show that 1d Bose gases are ideally suited for investigating this class of phenomena.
We propose a pairing-based method for cooling an atomic Fermi gas. A three component (labels 1, 2, 3) mixture of Fermions is considered where the components 1 and 2 interact and, for instance, form pairs whereas the component 3 is in the normal state. For cooling, the components 2 and 3 are coupled by an electromagnetic field. Since the quasiparticle distributions in the paired and in the normal states are different, the coupling leads to cooling of the normal state even when initially $T_{paired}geq T_{normal}$ (notation $T_Sgeq T_N$). The cooling efficiency is given by the pairing energy and by the linewidth of the coupling field. No superfluidity is required: any type of pairing, or other phenomenon that produces a suitable spectral density, is sufficient. In principle, the paired state could be cooled as well but this requires $T_N<T_S$. The method has a conceptual analogy to cooling based on superconductor -- normal metal (SN) tunneling junctions. Main differences arise from the exact momentum conservation in the case of the field-matter coupling vs. non-conservation of momentum in the solid state tunneling process. Moreover, the role of processes that relax the energy conservation requirement in the tunneling, e.g. thermal fluctuations of an external reservoir, is now played by the linewidth of the field. The proposed method should be experimentally feasible due to its close connection to RF-spectroscopy of ultracold gases which is already in use.
We calculate the density profiles of a trapped spin-imbalanced Fermi gas with attractive interactions in a one-dimensional optical lattice, using both the local density approximation (LDA) and density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) simulations. Based on the exact equation of state obtained by Bethe ansatz, LDA predicts that the gas phase-separates into shells with a partially polarized core and fully paired wings, where the latter occurs below a critical spin polarization. This behavior is also seen in numerically exact DMRG calculations at sufficiently large particle numbers. Unlike the continuum case, we show that the critical polarization is a non monotonic function of the interaction strength and vanishes in the limit of large interactions.
We study spin- and mass-imbalanced mixtures of spin-$tfrac{1}{2}$ fermions interacting via an attractive contact potential in one spatial dimension. Specifically, we address the influence of unequal particle masses on the pair formation by means of the complex Langevin method. By computing the pair-correlation function and the associated pair-momentum distribution we find that inhomogeneous pairing is present for all studied spin polarizations and mass imbalances. To further characterize the pairing behavior, we analyze the density-density correlations in momentum space, the so-called shot noise, which is experimentally accessible through time-of-flight imaging. At finite spin polarization, the latter is known to show distinct maxima at momentum configurations associated with the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) instability. Besides those maxima, we find that additional features emerge in the noise correlations when mass imbalance is increased, revealing the stability of FFLO-type correlations against mass imbalance and furnishing an experimentally accessible signature to probe this type of pairing.