Mixtures of fermionic atoms in an optical lattice
Disordered Systems and Neural Networks
2009-11-11 v1 Statistical Mechanics
Abstract
A mixture of light and heavy spin-polarized fermionic atoms in an optical lattice is considered. Tunneling of the heavy atoms is neglected such that they are only subject to thermal fluctuations. This results in a complex interplay between light and heavy atoms caused by quantum tunneling of the light atoms. The distribution of the heavy atoms is studied. It can be described by an Ising-like distribution with a first-order transition from homogeneous to staggered order. The latter is caused by an effective nonlocal interaction due to quantum tunneling of the light atoms. A second-order transition is also possible between an ordered and a disordered phase of the heavy atoms.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0611010,
title = {Mixtures of fermionic atoms in an optical lattice},
author = {K. Ziegler},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0611010},
year = {2009}
}