Super-shell structure in harmonically trapped fermionic gases and its semi-classical interpretation

It was recently shown in self-consistent Hartree-Fock calculations that a harmonically trapped dilute gas of fermionic atoms with a repulsive two-body interaction exhibits a pronounced {\it super-shell} structure: the shell fillings due to the spherical harmonic trapping potential are modulated by a beat mode. This changes the ``magic numbers'' occurring between the beat nodes by half a period. The length and amplitude of the beating mode depends on the strength of the interaction. We give a qualitative interpretation of the beat structure in terms of a semiclassical trace formula that uniformly describes the symmetry breaking U(3) $\to$ SO(3) in a 3D harmonic oscillator potential perturbed by an anharmonic term $\propto r^4$ with arbitrary strength. We show that at low Fermi energies (or particle numbers), the beating gross-shell structure of this system is dominated solely by the two-fold degenerate circular and (diametrically) pendulating orbits.Comment: Final version of procedings for the 'Nilsson conference

Supershell structure in trapped dilute Fermi gases

We show that a dilute harmonically trapped two-component gas of fermionic atoms with a weak repulsive interaction has a pronounced super-shell structure: the shell fillings due to the spherical harmonic trapping potential are modulated by a beat mode. This changes the ``magic numbers'' occurring between the beat nodes by half a period. The length and amplitude of this beating mode depend on the strength of the interaction. We give a simple interpretation of the beat structure in terms of a semiclassical trace formula for the symmetry breaking U(3) --> SO(3).Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; In version 2, references added. The semiclassical explanation of super-shell structure is refined. Version 3, as appeared in Phys. Rev.

Uniform semiclassical trace formula for U(3) --> SO(3) symmetry breaking

We develop a uniform semiclassical trace formula for the density of states of a three-dimensional isotropic harmonic oscillator (HO), perturbed by a term $\propto r^4$. This term breaks the U(3) symmetry of the HO, resulting in a spherical system with SO(3) symmetry. We first treat the anharmonic term in semiclassical perturbation theory by integration of the action of the perturbed periodic HO orbits over the manifold $\mathbb{C}$P$^2$ which characterizes their 4-fold degeneracy. Then we obtain an analytical uniform trace formula which in the limit of strong perturbations (or high energy) asymptotically goes over into the correct trace formula of the full anharmonic system with SO(3) symmetry, and in the limit $\epsilon$ (or energy) $\to 0$ restores the HO trace formula with U(3) symmetry. We demonstrate that the gross-shell structure of this anharmonically perturbed system is dominated by the two-fold degenerate diameter and circular orbits, and {\it not} by the orbits with the largest classical degeneracy, which are the three-fold degenerate tori with rational ratios $\omega_r:\omega_\phi=N:M$ of radial and angular frequencies. The same holds also for the limit of a purely quartic spherical potential $V(r)\propto r^4$.Comment: LaTeX (revtex4), 26pp., 5 figures, 1 table; final version to be published in J. Phys. A (without appendices C and D

Semiclassical description of shell effects in finite fermion systems

A short survey of the semiclassical periodic orbit theory, initiated by M. Gutzwiller and generalized by many other authors, is given. Via so-called semiclassical trace formmulae, gross-shell effects in bound fermion systems can be interpreted in terms of a few periodic orbits of the corresponding classical systems. In integrable systems, these are usually the shortest members of the most degenerate families or orbits, but in some systems also less degenerate orbits can determine the gross-shell structure. Applications to nuclei, metal clusters, semiconductor nanostructures, and trapped dilute atom gases are discussed.Comment: LaTeX (revteX4) 6 pages; invited talk at Int. Conference "Finite Fermionic Systems: Nilsson Model 50 Years", Lund, Sweden, June 14-18, 200