Using a coarse temporal lattice approximation, we calculate the first few terms of the virial expansion of a three-species fermion system with a three-body contact interaction in $d$ spatial dimensions, both in homogeneous space as well as in a harmonic trapping potential of frequency $ω$. Using the three-body problem to renormalize, we report analytic results for the change in the fourth- and fifth-order virial coefficients $Δb_4$ and $Δb_5$ as functions of $Δb_3$. Additionally, we argue that in the $ω\to 0$ limit the relationship $b_n^\text{T} = n^{-d/2} b_n$ holds between the trapped (T) and homogeneous coefficients for arbitrary temperature and coupling strength (not merely in scale-invariant regimes). Finally, we point out an exact, universal (coupling- and frequency-independent) relationship between $Δb_3^\text{T}$ in 1D with three-body forces and $Δb_2^\text{T}$ in 2D with two-body forces.
By generalizing our automated algebra approach from homogeneous space to harmonically trapped systems, we have calculated the fourth- and fifth-order virial coefficients of universal spin-1/2 fermions in the unitary limit, confined in an isotropic harmonic potential. We present results for said coefficients as a function of trapping frequency (or, equivalently, temperature), which compare favorably with previous Monte Carlo calculations (available only at fourth order) as well as with our previous estimates in the untrapped limit (high temperature, low frequency). We use our estimates of the v…
From the unified statistical thermodynamics of quantum gases, the virial coefficients of ideal Bose and Fermi gases which are trapped under generic power law potential are derived systematically. From the general result of virial coefficients, one can produce the known results in $d=3$ and $d=2$. But more importantly we found that, the virial coefficients of bosons and fermions become equal (except the the second virial coefficient, where the sign is different) when we trap the gases under harmonic potential in $d=1$. This result suggests the equivalence between Bose and Fermi gases which is a…
We study the virial relations for ultracold trapped two component Fermi gases in the case of short finite range interactions. Numerical verifications for such relations are reported through the BCS-BEC crossover. As an intermediate step, it is necessary to evaluate the partial derivatives of the many body energy with respect to the inverse of the scattering length and with respect to the interaction range. They are found to have extreme values at the unitary limit. The virial results are used to check the quality of the variational wave function involved in the calculations.
Using a leading-order semiclassical approximation, we calculate the third- and fourth-order virial coefficients of nonrelativistic spin-1/2 fermions in a harmonic trapping potential in arbitrary spatial dimensions, and as functions of temperature, trapping frequency and coupling strength. Our simple, analytic results for the interaction-induced changes $Δb_3$ and $Δb_4$ agree qualitatively, and in some regimes quantitatively, with previous numerical calculations for the unitary limit of three-dimensional Fermi gases.
We theoretically investigate the high-temperature thermodynamics of a harmonically trapped Fermi gas across a narrow Feshbach resonance, by using the second-order quantum virial expansion, and point out some new features compared to the broad resonance. The interatomic interaction is modeled by the pseudopotential with an additional parameter, i.e., the effective range, to characterize the narrow resonance width. Deeply inside the width of a narrow Feshbach resonance, we find the second virial coefficient evolves with the effective range from the well-known universal value 1/4 in the broad-res…
We study the virial expansion for three-dimensional Bose and Fermi gases at finite temperature using an approximation that only considers two-body processes and is valid for high temperatures and low densities. The first virial coefficients are computed and the second is exact. The results are obtained for the full range of values of the scattering length and the unitary limit is recovered as a particular case. A weak coupling expansion is performed and the free case is also obtained as a proper limit. The influence of an anisotropic harmonic trap is considered using the Local Density Approxim…
Equal-mass two-component Fermi gases under spherically symmetric external harmonic confinement with large s-wave scattering length are considered. Using the stochastic variational approach, we determine the lowest 286 and 164 relative eigenenergies of the (2,2) and (3,1) systems at unitarity as a function of the range $r_0$ of the underlying two-body potential and extrapolate to the $r_0 \rightarrow 0$ limit. Our calculations include all states with vanishing and finite angular momentum $L$ (and natural and unnatural parity $Π$) with relative energy up to $10.5 \hbar Ω$, where $Ω$ denotes the …
Following up on recent calculations, we investigate the leading- and next-to-leading order semiclassical approximation to the virial coefficients of a two-species fermion system with a contact interaction. Using the analytic result for the second-order virial coefficient as a renormalization condition, we derive expressions for up to the seventh-order virial coefficient $Δb_7$. Our results at leading order, though approximate, furnish simple analytic formulas that relate $Δb_n$ to $Δb_2$ for arbitrary dimension, providing a glimpse into the behavior of the virial expansion across dimensions an…
We calculate the finite-temperature density and polarization equations of state of one-dimensional fermions with a zero-range interaction, considering both attractive and repulsive regimes. In the path-integral formulation of the grand-canonical ensemble, a finite chemical potential asymmetry makes these systems intractable for standard Monte Carlo approaches due to the sign problem. Although the latter can be removed in one spatial dimension, we consider the one-dimensional situation in the present work to provide an efficient test for studies of the higher-dimensional counterparts. To overco…
We present essentially exact solutions of the Schroedinger equation for three fermions in two different spin states with zero-range s-wave interactions under harmonic confinement. Our approach covers spherically symmetric, strictly two-dimensional, strictly one-dimensional, cigar-shaped, and pancake-shaped traps. In particular, we discuss the transition from quasi-one-dimensional to strictly one-dimensional and from quasi-two-dimensional to strictly two-dimensional geometries. We determine and interpret the eigenenergies of the system as a function of the trap geometry and the strength of the …
The dynamic response functions of strongly interacting fermion gas in homogeneous space are investigated in a virial expansion to second order. The density response function exhibits transition from atomic to molecular response, as the interaction strength increases and the system undergoes BCS-BEC crossover. The qualitative features of density and spin response agree with measurements from the Bragg spectroscopy experiments. The virial response is exact at low density and high temperature, therefore providing a benchmark for many-body response.
We consider two-component fermions with a zero-range interaction both in two and three dimensions and study their spectral functions of bulk and shear viscosities for an arbitrary scattering length. Here the Kubo formulas are systematically evaluated up to the second order in the quantum virial expansion applicable to the high-temperature regime. In particular, our computation of the bulk viscosity spectral function is facilitated by expressing it with the contact-contact response function, which can be measured experimentally under the periodic modulation of the scattering length. The obtaine…
We study the roles of the dynamical high order perturbation and statistically non-linear infrared fluctuation/correlation in the virial equation of state for the Fermi gas in the unitary limit. Incorporating the quantum level crossing rearrangement effects, the spontaneously generated entropy departing from the mean-field theory formalism leads to concise thermodynamical expressions. The dimensionless virial coefficients with complex non-local correlations are calculated up to the fourth order for the first time. The virial coefficients of unitary Fermi gas are found to be proportional to thos…
We study systems of few two-component fermions interacting in a Harmonic Oscillator trap. The fermion-fermion interaction is generated in a finite basis with a unitary transformation of the exact two-body spectrum given by the Busch formula. The few-body Schrödinger equation is solved with the formalism of the No-Core Shell Model. We present results for a system of three fermions interacting at unitarity as well as for finite values of the S-wave scattering length $a_2$ and effective range $r_2$. Unitary systems with four and five fermions are also considered. We show that the many-body energi…
We study harmonically trapped, unpolarized fermion systems with attractive interactions in two spatial dimensions with spin degeneracies Nf = 2 and 4 and N/Nf = 1, 3, 5, and 7 particles per flavor. We carry out our calculations using our recently proposed quantum Monte Carlo method on a nonuniform lattice. We report on the ground-state energy and contact for a range of couplings, as determined by the binding energy of the two-body system, and show explicitly how the physics of the Nf-body sector dominates as the coupling is increased.
We study the scissors modes of dipolar boson and fermion gases trapped in a spherically symmetric potential. We use the harmonic oscillator states to solve the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation for bosons and the time-dependent Hartree-Fock equation for fermions. It is pointed out that the scissors modes of bosons and fermions can be of quite different nature.
The virial expansion provides a non-perturbative view into the thermodynamics of quantum many-body systems in dilute regimes. While powerful, the expansion is challenging as calculating its coefficients at each order $n$ requires analyzing (if not solving) the quantum $n$-body problem. In this work, we present a comprehensive review of automated algebra methods, which we developed to calculate high-order virial coefficients. The methods are computational but non-stochastic, thus avoiding statistical effects; they are also for the most part analytic, not numerical, and amenable to massively par…
We study the finite temperature properties of two-component fermionic atoms trapped in a two-dimensional optical lattice. We apply the self-energy functional approach to the two-dimensional Hubbard model with a harmonic trapping potential, and systematically investigate the thermodynamic properties of this system. We find that entropy and grand potential provide evidence of a crossover between the Mott insulating and metallic phases at certain temperatures. In addition, we find that entropy exhibits a cusp-like anomaly at lower temperatures, suggesting a second or higher order antiferromagneti…
Analytic higher-order momentum correlation functions associated with the time-of-flight spectroscopy of three ultracold fermionic atoms singly-confined in a linear three-well optical trap are presented, corresponding to the W- and Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger-type (GHZ) states that belong to characteristic classes of tripartite entanglement and represent the strong-interaction regime captured by a three-site Heisenberg Hamiltonian. The methodology introduced here contrasts with and goes beyond that based on the standard Wick's factorization scheme; it enables determination of both third-order a…
Using a high temperature virial expansion, we present a controllable study of the thermodynamics of strongly correlated Fermi gases near the BEC-BCS crossover region. We propose a practical way to determine the expansion coefficients for both harmonically trapped and homogeneous cases, and calculate the third order coefficient $b_{3}(T)$ at finite temperatures $T$. At resonance, a $T$-independent coefficient $b_{3,\infty}^{\hom}\approx-0.29095295$ is determined in free space. These results are compared with a recent thermodynamic measurement of $^{6}$Li atoms, at temperatures below the degener…
We consider dipolar fermions in a two-dimensional square lattice and a harmonic trapping potential. The anisotropy of the dipolar interaction combined with the lattice leads to transitions between phases with density order of different symmetries. We show that the attractive part of the dipolar interaction results in a superfluid phase which is suppressed by density order. The trapping potential is demonstrated to make the different phases co-exist, forming ring and island structures. The phases with density and superfluid order can overlap forming regions with supersolid order.
Spatial and momentum correlations are important in the analysis of the quantum states and different phases of trapped ultracold atom systems as a function of the strength of interatomic interactions. Identification and understanding of spin-resolved patterns exhibited in two-point correlations, accessible directly by experiments, are key for uncovering the symmetry and structure of the many-body wave functions of the trapped system. Using the configuration interaction method for exact diagonalization of the many-body Hamiltonian of $N=2-4$ fermionic atoms trapped in single, double, triple, and…
We present a field theoretic method for the calculation of the second and third virial coefficients b2 and b3 of 2-species fermions interacting via a contact interaction. The method is mostly analytic. We find a closed expression for b3 in terms of the 2 and 3-body T-matrices. We recover numerically, at unitarity, and also in the whole BEC-BCS crossover, previous numerical results for the third virial coefficient b3.
We propose a method of encoding a topologically-protected qubit using Majorana fermions in a trapped-ion chain. This qubit is protected against major sources of decoherence, while local operations and measurements can be realized. Furthermore, we show that an efficient quantum interface and memory for arbitrary multiqubit photonic states can be built, encoding them into a set of entangled Majorana-fermion qubits inside cavities.
We present a coupled pair approach for studying few-body physics in harmonically trapped ultracold gases. The method is applied to a two-component Fermi system of $N$ particles. A stochastically variational gaussian expansion method is applied, focusing on optimization of the two-body correlations present in the strongly interacting, or unitary, limit. The groundstate energy of the four-, six- and eight-body problem with equal spin populations is calculated with high accuracy and minimal computational effort. We also calculate the structural properties of these systems and discuss their implic…
We calculate the finite-temperature Tan's contact for N SU(2) fermions, characterized by repulsive contact interaction, trapped in a 1D harmonic confinement within a local density approximation on top of a thermodynamic Bethe Ansatz. The Tan's contact for such a system, as in the homogeneous case, displays a minimum at a very low temperature. By means of an exact canonical ensemble calculation for two fermions, we provide an explicit formula for the contact at very low temperatures that reveals that the minimum is due to the mixing of states with different exchange symmetries. In the unitary r…
Motivated by a recent experiment by F. Meinert et al, arxiv:1608.08200, we study the dynamics of an impurity moving in the background of a harmonically trapped one-dimensional Bose gas in the hard-core limit. We show that due to the hidden "lattice" structure of background bosons, the impurity effectively feels a quasi-periodic potential via impurity-boson interactions that can drive the Bloch oscillation under an external force, even in the absence of real lattice potentials. Meanwhile, the inhomogeneous density of trapped bosons imposes an additional harmonic potential to the impurity, resul…
The emergence of local phases in a trapped two-component Fermi gas in an optical lattice is studied using quantum Monte Carlo simulations. We treat temperatures that are comparable or lower than those presently achievable in experiments and large enough systems that both magnetic and paired phases can be detected by inspection of the behavior of suitable short-range correlations. We use the latter to suggest the interaction strength and temperature range at which experimental observation of incipient magnetism and d-wave pairing are more likely and evaluate the relation between entropy and tem…
The odd fermion at the edge: odd-even staggering in the trapped, unitary Fermi gas
University of Washington（华盛顿大学）；INFN sezione di Torino（都灵意大利国家核物理研究所）；Albert Einstein Center for Fundamental Physics, Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Bern（伯尔尼大学爱因斯坦基础物理中心理论物理研究所）
Using the time-dependent density matrix renormalization group method, we calculate transport properties of an interacting Fermi gas in an optical lattice with a confining trap after a sudden displacement of the trap center. In the regime of attractive interactions, the dipolar motion after the displacement can be classified into underdamped oscillations and overdamped relaxations, depending on the interaction strength. These numerical calculations are consistent with experimental results. In the regime of repulsive interactions, we predict a revival of the oscillations of the center of mass wh…
Using numerical simulation based on a density-functional equation for a trapped Fermi super-fluid valid along the BCS-unitarity crossover, we establish robust scaling over many orders of magnitude in the observables of the system as a function of fermion number. This scaling allows to predict the static properties of the system, such as energy, chemical potential, etc., for a large number of fermions, over the crossover, from the knowledge of those for a small number ($\sim 4-10$) of fermions.
The virial expansion method is applied within a harmonic approximation to an interacting N-body system of identical fermions. We compute the canonical partition functions for two and three particles to get the two lowest orders in the expansion. The energy spectrum is carefully interpolated to reproduce ground state properties at low temperature and the non-interacting large temperature limit of constant virial coefficients. This resembles the smearing of shell effects in finite systems with increasing temperature. Numerical results are discussed for the second and third virial coefficients as…
We consider a system of non-interacting fermions in one dimension subject to a single-particle potential consisting of (a) a strong optical lattice, (b) a harmonic trap, and (c) uncorrelated on-site disorder. After a quench, in which the center of the harmonic trap is displaced, we study the occupation function of the fermions and the time-evolution of experimental observables. Specifically, we present numerical and analytical results for the post-quench occupation function of the fermions, and analyse the time-evolution of the real-space density profile. Unsurprisingly for a non-interacting (…
System of a two-flavor mixture of ultra-cold fermions confined in a one-dimensional harmonic trap is studied in the frame of the center of mass. We present a numerical method of obtaining energetic spectra in this frame for an arbitrary mass ratio of fermionic species. We identify a specific invariant encoded in many-body correlations which enable one to determine an eigenstate of the Hamiltonian and to label excitations of the center of mass. The tool presented may be particularly useful in experimental analysis of the interparticle interactions which do not affect the center of mass excitati…
We propose a method of simulating efficiently many-body interacting fermion lattice models in trapped ions, including highly nonlinear interactions in arbitrary spatial dimensions and for arbitrarily distant couplings. We map products of fermionic operators onto nonlocal spin operators and decompose the resulting dynamics in efficient steps with Trotter methods, yielding an overall protocol that employs only polynomial resources. The proposed scheme can be relevant in a variety of fields as condensed-matter or high-energy physics, where quantum simulations may solve problems intractable for cl…
A two-component four-fermion system with equal masses, interspecies s-wave scattering length a and vanishing intraspecies interactions under external spherically symmetric harmonic confinement is considered. Using a correlated Gaussian basis set expansion approach, we determine the energies and various structural properties of the energetically lowest-lying gas-like state throughout the crossover for various ranges of the underlying two-body potential. Extrapolating to the zero-range limit, our numerical results show explicitly that the total energy, the trap energy as well as certain aspects …
Three fermions with strongly repulsive interactions in a spherical harmonic trap, constitute the simplest nontrivial system that can exhibit the onset of itinerant ferromagnetism. Here, we present exact solutions for three trapped, attractively interacting fermions near a Feshbach resonance. We analyze energy levels on the upper branch of the resonance where the atomic interaction is effectively repulsive. When the s-wave scattering length a is sufficiently positive, three fully polarized fermions are energetically stable against a single spin-flip, indicating the possibility of itinerant ferr…
We propose and analyze a variational wave function for a population-imbalanced one-dimensional Fermi gas that allows for Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) type pairing correlations among the two fermion species, while also accounting for the harmonic confining potential. In the strongly interacting regime, we find large spatial oscillations of the order parameter, indicative of an FFLO state. The obtained density profiles versus imbalance are consistent with recent experimental results as well as with theoretical calculations based on combining Bethe ansatz with the local density approxi…
Dynamical properties of two-component mass-imbalanced few-fermion systems confined in a one-dimensional harmonic trap following a sudden quench of interactions are studied. It is assumed that initially the system is prepared in the non-interacting ground state and then, after a sudden quench of interactions, the unitary evolution is governed by interacting many-body Hamiltonian. By careful analysis of the evolution of the Loschmidt echo, density distributions of the components, and entanglement entropy between them, the role of mass imbalance and particle number imbalance on the system's evolu…
We characterize the high-temperature thermodynamics of rotating bosons and fermions in two- (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) isotropic harmonic trapping potentials. We begin by calculating analytically the conventional virial coefficients $b_n$ for all $n$ in the noninteracting case, as functions of the trapping and rotational frequencies. We also report on the virial coefficients for the angular momentum and associated moment of inertia. Using the bn coefficients, we analyze the deconfined limit (in which the angular frequency matches the trapping frequency) and derive explicitly the limiting …
Standard lattice formulations of non-relativistic Fermi gases with two spin components suffer from a sign problem in the cases of repulsive contact interactions and attractive contact interactions with spin imbalance. We discuss the nature of this sign problem and the applicability of stochastic quantisation with complex Langevin evolution in both cases. For repulsive interactions, we find that the results converge, using adaptive step size scaling and a Gaussian regulator to modify the lattice action. We present results on density profiles and correlations of a harmonically trapped system in …
To calculate static response properties of a many body system, local density approximation (LDA) can be safely applied. But applicability of LDA is limited for the case of dynamical response functions since dynamics of the system needs to be considered as well. To examine this in the context of cold atoms, we consider a system of non-interacting spin-$1/2$ fermions confined by a harmonic trapping potential. We have calculated a very important response function, the spectral intensity distribution function (SIDF), both exactly and using LDA at zero temperature and compared with each other for d…
Motivated by several experimental efforts to understand spin diffusion and transport in ultracold fermionic gases, we study the spin dynamics of initially spin-polarized ensembles of harmonically trapped non-interacting spin-1/2 fermionic atoms, subjected to a magnetic field gradient. We obtain simple analytic expressions for spin observables in the presence of both constant and linear magnetic field gradients, with and without a spin-echo pulse, and at zero and finite temperatures. The analysis shows the relevance of spin-motional coupling in the non-interacting regime where the demagnetizati…
We consider mass-imbalanced two-component Fermi gases for which the unequal-mass atoms interact via a zero-range model potential with a diverging s-wave scattering length $a_s$, i.e., with $1/a_s=0$. The high temperature thermodynamics of the harmonically trapped and homogeneous systems are examined using a virial expansion approach up to third order in the fugacity. We find that the universal part of the third-order virial coefficient associated with two light atoms and one heavy atom is negative, while that associated with two heavy and one light atom changes sign from negative to positive a…
Superfluidity is a fascinating phenomenon that, at the macroscopic scale, leads to dissipationless flow and the emergence of vortices. While these macroscopic manifestations of superfluidity are well described by theories that have their origin in Landau's two-fluid model, our microscopic understanding of superfluidity is far from complete. Using analytical and numerical \textit{ab initio} approaches, this paper determines the superfluid fraction and local superfluid density of small harmonically trapped two-component Fermi gases as a function of the interaction strength and temperature. At lo…
Third and higher order quantum virial coefficients require the solution of the corresponding quantum many-body problem. Nevertheless, in an earlier paper (Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 260402 (2012)) we proposed that the higher-order cluster integrals of a dilute unitary fermionic gas may be approximated in terms of the two-body cluster, together with an appropriate suppression factor. Although not exact, this ansatz gave a fair agreement up to fugacity z=6 with the experimentally obtained equation of state. The objective of the present note is to give some physical arguments in favor of this ansatz.
We describe the emergence of superfluid phases of ultracold dipolar fermions in optical lattices for two-dimensional systems. Considering the many-body screening of dipolar interactions at intermediate and larger filling factors, we show that several superfluid phases with distinct pairing symmetries naturally arise in the singlet channel: local s-wave $(sl)$, extended s-wave $(se)$, d-wave $(d)$ or time-reversal-symmetry breaking $(sl + se \pm id)$-wave. We obtain the temperature versus filling factor phase diagram and show that d-wave pairing is favored near half-filling, that $(sl + se)$-wa…
From an extensive calculation of static properties of a trapped Fermi superfluid at zero temperature using a density-functional formulation, we demonstrate a universal behavior of its observables, such as energy, chemical potential, radius etc., over the crossover from the BCS limit to unitarity leading to scaling over many orders of magnitude in fermion number. This scaling allows to predict the static properties of the system, with a large number ($\sim 10^5$) of fermions, over the crossover with an error of 1-2%, from the knowledge of those for a small number ($\sim 10$) of fermions.
On increasing the coupling strength ($λ$) of a non-Abelian gauge field that induces a generalized Rashba spin-orbit interaction, the topology of the Fermi surface of a homogeneous gas of noninteracting fermions of density $ρ\sim \kf^3$ undergoes a change at a critical value, $λ_T \approx \kf$ [Phys. Rev. B {\bf 84}, 014512 (2011)]. In this paper we analyze how this phenomenon affects the size and shape of a cloud of spin-$\half$ fermions trapped in a harmonic potential such as those used in cold atom experiments. We develop an adiabatic formulation, including the concomitant Pancharatnam-Berry…
We present a density-functional theory for the one dimensional harmonically trapped Bose-Fermi mixture with repulsive contact interactions. The ground state density distribution of each component is obtained by solving the Kohn-Sham equations numerically based on the Local Density Approximation and the exact solution for the homogeneous system given by Bethe ansatz method. It is shown that for strong enough interaction, a considerable amount of fermions are repelled out of the central region of the trap, exhibiting partial phase separation of Bose and Fermi components. Oscillations emerge in t…
