Absorption by cold Fermi atoms in a harmonic trap

We study the absorption spectrum for a strongly degenerate Fermi gas confined in a harmonic trap. The spectrum is calculated using both the exact summation and also the Thomas-Fermi (TF) approximation. In the latter case, relatively simple analytical expressions are obtained for the absorption lineshape at large number of trapped atoms. At zero temperature, the approximated lineshape is characterized by a $(1-z^2)^{5/2}$ dependence which agrees well with the exact numerical calculations. At non-zero temperature, the spectrum becomes broader, although remains non-Gaussian as long as the fermion gas is degenerate. The changes in the trap frequency for an electronically excited atom can introduce an additional line broadening.