Attractive Fermi gases with unequal spin populations in highly elongated traps

We investigate two-component attractive Fermi gases with imbalanced spin populations in trapped one dimensional configurations. The ground state properties are determined within local density approximation, starting from the exact Bethe-ansatz equations for the homogeneous case. We predict that the atoms are distributed according to a two-shell structure: a partially polarized phase in the center of the trap and either a fully paired or a fully polarized phase in the wings. The partially polarized core is expected to be a superfluid of the FFLO type. The size of the cloud as well as the critical spin polarization needed to suppress the fully paired shell, are calculated as a function of the coupling strength.Comment: Final accepted versio

Magnetoconductivity of low-dimensional disordered conductors at the onset of the superconducting transition

Magnetoconductivity of the disordered two- and three-dimensional superconductors is addressed at the onset of superconducting transition. In this regime transport is dominated by the fluctuation effects and we account for the interaction corrections coming from the Cooper channel. In contrast to many previous studies we consider strong magnetic fields and various temperature regimes, which allow to resolve the existing discrepancies with the experiments. Specifically, we find saturation of the fluctuations induced magneto-conductivity for both two- and three-dimensional superconductors at already moderate magnetic fields and discuss possible dimensional crossover at the immediate vicinity of the critical temperature. The surprising observation is that closer to the transition temperature weaker magnetic field provides the saturation. It is remarkable also that interaction correction to magnetoconductivity coming from the Cooper channel, and specifically the so called Maki-Thompson contribution, remains to be important even away from the critical region.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Magnetic field dependence of the superconducting gap node topology in non-centrosymmetric CePt3_3Si

The non-centrosymmetric superconductor CePt$_3$Si is believed to have a line node in the energy gap arising from coexistence of s-wave and p-wave pairing. We show that a weak c-axis magnetic field will remove this line node, since it has no topological stability against time-reversal symmetry breaking perturbations. Conversely a field in the $a-b$ plane is shown to remove the line node on some regions of the Fermi surface, while bifurcating the line node in other directions, resulting in two 'boomerang'-like shapes. These line node topological changes are predicted to be observable experimentally in the low temperature heat capacity.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Stripe, checkerboard, and liquid-crystal ordering from anisotropic p-orbital Fermi surfaces in optical lattices

We study instabilities of single-species fermionic atoms in the p-orbital bands in two-dimensional optical lattices at noninteger filling against interactions. Charge density wave and orbital density wave orders with stripe or checkerboard patterns are found for attractive and repulsive interactions, respectively. The superfluid phase, usually expected of attractively interacting fermions, is strongly suppressed. We also use field theory to analyze the possible phase-transitions from orbital stripe order to liquid-crystal phases and obtain the phase diagram. The condition of nearly-perfect Fermisurface nesting, which is key to the above results, is shown robustly independent of fermion fillings in such p-orbital systems, and the $(2k_F,\pm2k_F)$ momentum of density wave oscillation is highly tunable. Such remarkable features show the promise of making those exotic orbital phases, which are of broad interest in condensed-matter physics, experimentally realizable with optical lattice gases.Comment: final version, 8 pages, 5 figure

On the ground state of gapless two flavor color superconductors

This paper is devoted to the study of some aspects of the instability of two flavor color superconductive quark matter. We find that, beside color condensates, the Goldstone boson related to the breaking of $U(1)_A$ suffers of a velocity instability. We relate this wrong sign problem, which implies the existence of a Goldstone current in the ground state or of gluonic condensation, to the negative squared Meissner mass of the $8^{th}$ gluon in the g2SC phase. Moreover we investigate the Meissner masses of the gluons and the squared velocity of the Goldstone in the multiple plane wave LOFF states, arguing that in such phases both the chromo-magnetic instability and the velocity instability are most probably removed. We also do not expect Higgs instability in such multiple plane wave LOFF. The true vacuum of gapless two flavor superconductors is thus expected to be a multiple plane wave LOFF state.Comment: 16 pages, RevTe3X4 styl

Phase Separation in Bose-Fermi-Fermi Mixtures as a Probe of Fermi Superfluidity

We study the phase diagram of a mixture of Bose-Einstein condensate and a two-component Fermi gas. In particular, we identify the regime where the homogeneous system becomes unstable against phase separation. We show that, under proper conditions, the phase separation phenomenon can be exploited as a robust probe of Fermi superfluid

Ground state of a tightly bound composite dimer immersed in a Fermi Sea

In this paper we present a theoretical investigation for the ground state of an impurity immersed in a Fermi sea. The molecular regime is considered where a two-body bound state between the impurity and one of the fermions is formed. Both interaction and exchange of the bound fermion take place between the dimer and the Fermi sea. We develop a formalism based on a two channel model allowing us to expand systematically the ground state energy of this immersed dimer with the scattering length $a$. Working up to order $a^3$, associated to the creation of two particle-hole pairs, reveals the first signature of the composite nature of the bosonic dimer. Finally, a complementary variational study provides an accurate estimate of the dimer energy even at large scattering length.Comment: 11 pages; 3 figure

Peak effect at the weak- to strong pinning crossover

In type-II superconductors, the magnetic field enters in the form of vortices; their flow under application of a current introduces dissipation and thus destroys the defining property of a superconductor. Vortices get immobilized by pinning through material defects, thus resurrecting the supercurrent. In weak collective pinning, defects compete and only fluctuations in the defect density produce pinning. On the contrary, strong pins deform the lattice and induce metastabilities. Here, we focus on the crossover from weak- to strong bulk pinning, which is triggered either by increasing the strength $f_\mathrm{p}$ of the defect potential or by decreasing the effective elasticity of the lattice (which is parametrized by the Labusch force $f_\mathrm{Lab}$). With an appropriate Landau expansion of the free energy we obtain a peak effect with a sharp rise in the critical current density $j_\mathrm{c} \sim j_0 (a_0\xi^2 n_p) (\xi^2/a_0^2) (f_\mathrm{p}/f_\mathrm{Lab} -1)^2$.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures (Proceedings of the Third European Conference on Vortex Matter in Superconductors, to be published in Physica C