Renormalization of the superfluid density in the two-dimensional BCS-BEC crossover

We analyze the theoretical derivation of the beyond-mean-field equation of state for a two-dimensional gas of dilute, ultracold alkali-metal atoms in the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) to Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) crossover. We show that at zero temperature our theory -- considering Gaussian fluctuations on top of the mean-field equation of state -- is in very good agreement with experimental data. Subsequently, we investigate the superfluid density at finite temperature and its renormalization due to the proliferation of vortex-antivortex pairs. By doing so, we determine the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) critical temperature -- at which the renormalized superfluid density jumps to zero -- as a function of the inter-atomic potential strength. We find that the Nelson-Kosterlitz criterion overestimates the BKT temperature with respect to the renormalization group equations, this effect being particularly relevant in the intermediate regime of the crossover.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, presented to the International Conference "Electron correlation in superconductors and nanostructures", 17-20 August 2017, Odessa (Ukraine). To be published in the Proceeding

Scattering length of composite bosons in the 3D BCS-BEC crossover

We study the zero-temperature grand potential of a three-dimensional superfluid made of ultracold fermionic alkali-metal atoms in the BCS-BEC crossover. In particular, we analyze the zero-point energy of both fermionic single-particle excitations and bosonic collective excitations. The bosonic elementary excitations, which are crucial to obtain a reliable equation of state in the BEC regime, are obtained with a low-momentum expansion up to the forth order of the quadratic (Gaussian) action of the fluctuating pairing field. By performing a cutoff regularization and renormalization of Gaussian fluctuations, we find that the scattering length $a_B$ of composite bosons, bound states of fermionic pairs, is given by $a_B = (2/3) a_F$, where $a_F$ is the scattering length of fermions.Comment: 5 pages; accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Gaussian fluctuations in the two-dimensional BCS-BEC crossover: finite temperature properties

The role of fluctuations is enhanced in lower dimensionality systems: in a two dimensions off-diagonal long-range order is destroyed by the fluctuations at any finite temperature, drastically modifying the critical properties with respect to the three-dimensional counterpart. Recently two-dimensional systems of interacting fermions have been the subject of Montecarlo studies and experimental investigations, in particular an ultracold gas of attractive fermions with a widely tunable interaction due to a Feshbach resonance has been realized and the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition has been observed. The present work deals with the theoretical description of an ultracold Fermi gas: we discuss the role of Gaussian fluctuations of the order parameter in the equation of state, in particular we take into account the first sound velocity, showing that the inclusion of order parameter fluctuations is needed in order to get the correct composite-boson limit in the strong-coupling regime. The theory is also compared with experimental data. Finally we focus on the superfluid density in the weak-coupling, intermediate and strong-coupling regimes at finite temperature, through which the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless critical temperature is obtained.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, submitted to the proceedings of the 24th Annual International Laser Physics Worksho

Vortices and antivortices in two-dimensional ultracold Fermi gases

Vortices are commonly observed in the context of classical hydrodynamics: from whirlpools after stirring the coffee in a cup to a violent atmospheric phenomenon such as a tornado, all classical vortices are characterized by an arbitrary circulation value of the local velocity field. On the other hand the appearance of vortices with quantized circulation represents one of the fundamental signatures of macroscopic quantum phenomena. In two-dimensional superfluids quantized vortices play a key role in determining finite-temperature properties, as the superfluid phase and the normal state are separated by a vortex unbinding transition, the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition. Very recent experiments with two-dimensional superfluid fermions motivate the present work: we present theoretical results based on the renormalization group showing that the universal jump of the superfluid density and the critical temperature crucially depend on the interaction strength, providing a strong benchmark for forthcoming investigations.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figure

Finite-temperature quantum fluctuations in two-dimensional Fermi superfluids

In two-dimensional systems with a continuous symmetry the Mermin-Wagner-Hohenberg theorem precludes spontaneous symmetry breaking and condensation at finite temperature. The Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless critical temperature marks the transition from a superfluid phase characterized by quasi-condensation and algebraic long-range order to a normal phase, where vortex proliferation completely destroys superfluidity. As opposed to conventional off-diagonal long-range order typical of three-dimensional superfluid systems, algebraic long-range order is driven by quantum and thermal fluctuations strongly enhanced in reduced dimensionality. Motivated by this unique scenario and by the very recent experimental realization of trapped quasi-two-dimensional fermionic clouds, we include one-loop Gaussian fluctuations in the theoretical description of resonant Fermi superfluids in two dimensions demonstrating that first sound, second sound and also critical temperature are strongly renormalized, away from their mean-field values. In particular, we prove that in the intermediate and strong coupling regimes these quantities are radically different when Gaussian fluctuations are taken into account. Our one-loop theory shows good agreement with very recent experimental data on the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless critical temperature [Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 010401 (2015)] and on the first sound velocity, giving novel predictions for the second sound as a function of interaction strength and temperature, open for experimental verification.Comment: improved version, 8 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Gauge approach to superfluid density in underdoped cuprates

We prove that a gauge approach based on a composite structure of the hole in hole-doped cuprates is able to capture analytically many features of the experimental data on superfluid density in the moderate-underdoping to nearly-optimal doping region, including critical exponent, the Uemura relation and near universality of the normalized superfluid density.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in EP

Superfluid density in cuprates: hints on gauge compositeness of the holes

We show that several features (the three-dimensional XY universality for moderate underdoping, the almost-BCS behaviour for moderate overdoping and the critical exponent) of the superfluid density in hole-doped cuprates hint at a composite structure of the holes. This idea can be implemented in a spin-charge gauge approach to the $t - t' - J$ model and provides indeed good agreement with available experimental data.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, to be published in the proceedings of the International Conference in Superconductivty and Magnetism ICSM201

Pair condensation of polarized fermions in the BCS-BEC crossover

We investigate a two-component Fermi gas with unequal spin populations along the BCS-BEC crossover. By using the extended BCS equations and the concept of off-diagonal-long-range-order we derive a formula for the condensate number of Cooper pairs as a function of energy gap, average chemical potential, imbalance chemical potential and temperature. Then we study the zero-temperature condensate fraction of Cooper pairs by varying interaction strength and polarization, finding a depletion of the condensate fraction by increasing the population imbalance. We also consider explicitly the presence of an external harmonic confinement and we study, within the local-density approximation, the phase separation between superfluid and normal phase regions of the polarized fermionic cloud. In particular, we calculate both condensate density profiles and total density profiles from the inner superfluid core to the normal region passing for the interface, where a finite jump in the density is a clear manifestation of this phase-separated regime. Finally, we compare our theoretical results with the available experimental data on the condensate fraction of polarized 6Li atoms [Science 311, 492 (2006)]. These experimental data are in reasonable agreement with our predictions in a suitable range of polarizations, but only in the BCS side of the crossover up to unitarity.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, improved version, added a section on the interpretation of the results, to be published in J. Phys.

Diagrammatic Monte Carlo approach to angular momentum in quantum many-particle systems

We introduce a Diagrammatic Monte Carlo (DiagMC) approach to angular momentum properties of quantum many-particle systems possessing a macroscopic number of degrees of freedom. The treatment is based on a diagrammatic expansion that merges the usual Feynman diagrams with the angular momentum diagrams known from atomic and nuclear structure theory, thereby incorporating the non-Abelian algebra inherent to quantum rotations. Our approach is applicable at arbitrary coupling, is free of systematic errors and of finite size effects, and naturally provides access to the impurity Green function. We exemplify the technique by obtaining an all-coupling solution of the angulon model, however, the method is quite general and can be applied to a broad variety of systems in which particles exchange quantum angular momentum with their many-body environment.Comment: 6+5 pages, 2+2 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

Beliaev damping of the Goldstone mode in atomic Fermi superfluids

Beliaev damping in a superfluid is the decay of a collective excitation into two lower frequency collective excitations; it represents the only decay mode for a bosonic collective excitation in a superfluid at T = 0. The standard treatment for this decay assumes a linear spectrum, which in turn implies that the final state momenta must be collinear to the initial state. We extend this treatment, showing that the inclusion of a gradient term in the Hamiltonian yields a realistic spectrum for the bosonic excitations; we then derive a formula for the decay rate of such excitations, and show that even moderate nonlinearities in the spectrum can yield substantial deviations from the standard result. We apply our result to an attractive Fermi gas in the BCS-BEC crossover: here the low-energy bosonic collective excitations are density oscillations driven by the phase of the pairing order field. These collective excitations, which are gapless modes as a consequence of the Goldstone mechanism, have a spectrum which is well established both theoretically and experimentally, and whose linewidth, we show, is determined at low temperatures by the Beliaev decay mechanism.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure