Pairing in a three component Fermi gas
Abstract
We consider pairing in a three-component gas of degenerate fermions. In particular, we solve the finite temperature mean-field theory of an interacting gas for a system where both interaction strengths and fermion masses can be unequal. At zero temperature we find a a possibility of a quantum phase transition between states associated with pairing between different pairs of fermions. On the other hand, finite temperature behavior of the three-component system reveals some qualitative differences from the two-component gas: for a range of parameters it is possible to have two different critical temperatures. The lower one corresponds to a transition between different pairing channels, while the higher one corresponds to the usual superfluid-normal transition. We discuss how these phase transitions could be observed in ultracold gases of fermionic atoms.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0603498,
title = {Pairing in a three component Fermi gas},
author = {T. Paananen and J. -P. Martikainen and P. Torma},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0603498},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
10 pages, 3 figures