Phase diagram of a dilute fermion gas with density imbalance

We map out the phase diagram of a dilute two-component atomic fermion gas with unequal populations and masses under a Feshbach resonance. As in the case of equal masses, no uniform phase is stable for an intermediate coupling regime. For majority component heavier, the unstable region moves towards the BEC side. When the coupling strength is increased from the normal phase, there is an increased parameter space where the transition is into the FFLO state. The converse is true if the majority is light.Comment: Proceeding for M$^2$S-HTSC VIII meeting, July 9-14 2006, Dresden; To appear in Physica

Scaling Flows and Dissipation in the Dilute Fermi Gas at Unitarity

We describe recent attempts to extract the shear viscosity of the dilute Fermi gas at unitarity from experiments involving scaling flows. A scaling flow is a solution of the hydrodynamic equations that preserves the shape of the density distribution. The scaling flows that have been explored in the laboratory are the transverse expansion from a deformed trap ("elliptic flow"), the expansion from a rotating trap, and collective oscillations. We discuss advantages and disadvantages of the different experiments, and point to improvements of the theoretical analysis that are needed in order to achieve definitive results. A conservative bound based on the current data is that the minimum of the shear viscosity to entropy density ration is that eta/s is less or equal to 0.5 hbar/k_B.Comment: 32 pages, prepared for "BCS-BEC crossoverand the Unitary Fermi Gas", Lecture Notes in Physics, W. Zwerger (editor), Fig. 5 corrected, note added; final version, corrected typo in equ. 9

Universal Quantum Viscosity in a Unitary Fermi Gas

A Fermi gas of atoms with resonant interactions is predicted to obey universal hydrodynamics, where the shear viscosity and other transport coefficients are universal functions of the density and temperature. At low temperatures, the viscosity has a universal quantum scale $\hbar n$ where $n$ is the density, while at high temperatures the natural scale is $p_T^3/\hbar^2$ where $p_T$ is the thermal momentum. We employ breathing mode damping to measure the shear viscosity at low temperature. At high temperature $T$, we employ anisotropic expansion of the cloud to find the viscosity, which exhibits precise $T^{3/2}$ scaling. In both experiments, universal hydrodynamic equations including friction and heating are used to extract the viscosity. We estimate the ratio of the shear viscosity to the entropy density and compare to that of a perfect fluid.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure

Suppression of magnetic ordering in quasi-one-dimensional FexCo1-xNb2O6 compounds

International audienceWe present a systematic investigation of the series of compounds FexCo1-xNb2O6 by means of x-ray and neutron powder diffraction combined with magnetic measurements, carried out in the paramagnetic as well as in the ordered state, to probe the stability of the magnetic ordering against the composition changes in this model Ising system. Fe for Co substitution induces a continuous lattice volume increase, preserving the orthorhombic crystal structure. The unit-cell expansion is anisotropic and occurs mainly in the ab plane. The observed magnetic structures for x=0,0.8, and 1 are described by the propagation vectors (0,1/2,0) and (1/2,1/2,0), and are consistent with the picture of ferromagnetic Ising-type chains of Fe/Co spins antiferromagnetically coupled by weak interchain interactions. We find out that for

Hydrodynamic Modes in a Trapped Strongly Interacting Fermi Gases of Atoms

The zero-temperature properties of a dilute two-component Fermi gas in the BCS-BEC crossover are investigated. On the basis of a generalization of the variational Schwinger method, we construct approximate semi-analytical formulae for collective frequencies of the radial and the axial breathing modes of the Fermi gas under harmonic confinement in the framework of the hydrodynamic theory. It is shown that the method gives nearly exact solutions.Comment: 11 page

Calorimetry of Bose-Einstein condensates

We outline a practical scheme for measuring the thermodynamic properties of a Bose-Einstein condensate as a function of internal energy. We propose using Bragg scattering and controlled trap manipulations to impart a precise amount of energy to a near zero temperature condensate. After thermalisation the temperature can be measured using standard techniques to determine the state equation $T(U,N,\omega)$. Our analysis accounts for interaction effects and the excitation of constants of motion which restrict the energy available for thermalisation.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure. Updated to published versio

Fermionic superfluidity: From high Tc superconductors to ultracold Fermi gases

We present a pairing fluctuation theory which self-consistently incorporates finite momentum pair excitations in the context of BCS--Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) crossover, and we apply this theory to high $T_c$ superconductors and ultracold Fermi gases. There are strong similarities between Fermi gases in the unitary regime and high Tc superconductors. Here we address key issues of common interest, especially the pseudogap. In the Fermi gases we summarize recent experiments including various phase diagrams (with and without population imbalance), as well as evidence for a pseudogap in thermodynamic and other experiments.Comment: Expanded version, invited talk at the 5th International Conference on Complex Matter -- Stripes 2006, 6 pages, 6 figure

Signatures of Superfluidity in Dilute Fermi Gases near a Feshbach Resonance

We present a brief account of the most salient properties of vortices in dilute atomic Fermi superfluids near a Feshbach resonance.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, and jltp.cls. Several typos and a couple of inaccuracies have been correcte

Exploring CEvNS with NUCLEUS at the Chooz Nuclear Power Plant

Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE$\nu$NS) offers a unique way to study neutrino properties and to search for new physics beyond the Standard Model. Nuclear reactors are promising sources to explore this process at low energies since they deliver large fluxes of (anti-)neutrinos with typical energies of a few MeV. In this paper, a new-generation experiment to study CE$\nu$NS is described. The NUCLEUS experiment will use cryogenic detectors which feature an unprecedentedly low energy threshold and a time response fast enough to be operated in above-ground conditions. Both sensitivity to low-energy nuclear recoils and a high event rate tolerance are stringent requirements to measure CE$\nu$NS of reactor antineutrinos. A new experimental site, denoted the Very-Near-Site (VNS) at the Chooz nuclear power plant in France is described. The VNS is located between the two 4.25 GW$_{\mathrm{th}}$ reactor cores and matches the requirements of NUCLEUS. First results of on-site measurements of neutron and muon backgrounds, the expected dominant background contributions, are given. In this paper a preliminary experimental setup with dedicated active and passive background reduction techniques is presented. Furthermore, the feasibility to operate the NUCLEUS detectors in coincidence with an active muon-veto at shallow overburden is studied. The paper concludes with a sensitivity study pointing out the promising physics potential of NUCLEUS at the Chooz nuclear power plant

First results from the CRESST-III low-mass dark matter program

The CRESST experiment is a direct dark matter search which aims to measure interactions of potential dark matter particles in an earth-bound detector. With the current stage, CRESST-III, we focus on a low energy threshold for increased sensitivity towards light dark matter particles. In this manuscript we describe the analysis of one detector operated in the first run of CRESST-III (05/2016-02/2018) achieving a nuclear recoil threshold of 30.1eV. This result was obtained with a 23.6g CaWO$_4$ crystal operated as a cryogenic scintillating calorimeter in the CRESST setup at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS). Both the primary phonon/heat signal and the simultaneously emitted scintillation light, which is absorbed in a separate silicon-on-sapphire light absorber, are measured with highly sensitive transition edge sensors operated at ~15mK. The unique combination of these sensors with the light element oxygen present in our target yields sensitivity to dark matter particle masses as low as 160MeV/c$^2$.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure