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We theoretically investigate quantum conductance across a point contact between two strongly-interacting ultracold Fermi gases. We evaluate the tunneling current, taking into account pairing fluctuations in the Fermi gases within the framework of a combined strong-coupling T-matrix approximation with the Schwinger-Keldysh non-equilibrium formalism. We show that quasi-particle conductance is gradually suppressed, as one passes through the BCS–BEC crossover region from the weak-coupling side. On the other hand, with increasing the strength of a pairing interaction, the fluctuation-pair conductance is found to remarkably increase in the crossover region, which is followed by the suppression in the strong-coupling regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate thermodynamic properties and effects of quantum fluctuations in the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS)-Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) crossover region of a superfluid Fermi gas in the low-temperature limit. Including strong-coupling corrections within the framework of an extended T-matrix approximation, we numerically compute the isothermal compressibility $$\chi _n$$ . While quantum fluctuation effects on $$\chi _n$$ in the strong-coupling BEC regime are explained by the quantum depletion due to a repulsive interaction between tightly bound molecules, effects of self-energy shift on the Fermi chemical potential are found to enhance $$\chi _n$$ in the weak-coupling BCS region. We also show that the calculated $$\chi _n$$ agrees well with the recent experiment on a $$^6$$ Li Fermi gas done from the weak-coupling region to the unitarity limit. Our result would be useful for the study of many-body quantum corrections in the BCS-BEC crossover region of a strongly interacting Fermi superfluid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate strong-coupling properties of a two-dimensional ultracold Fermi gas in the normal phase. In the three-dimensional case, it has been shown that the so-called pseudogap phenomena can be well described by a (non-self-consistent) T-matrix approximation (TMA). In the two-dimensional case, while this strong-coupling theory can explain the pseudogap phenomenon in the strong-coupling regime, it unphysically gives large pseudogap size in the crossover region, as well as in the weak-coupling regime. We show that this difficulty can be overcome when one improves TMA to include higher-order pairing fluctuations within the framework of a self-consistent T-matrix approximation (SCTMA). The essence of this improvement is also explained. Since the observation of the BKT transition has recently been reported in a two-dimensional $$^6\hbox {Li}$$ Fermi gas, our results would be useful for the study of strong-coupling physics associated with this quasi-long-range order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We theoretically investigate the normal state properties of a Bose-Fermi mixture with a strong attractive interaction between Fermi and Bose atoms. We extend the ordinary T-matrix approximation (TMA) with respect to Bose-Fermi pairing fluctuations, to include the Hugenholtz-Pines' relation for all Bose Green's functions appearing in TMA self-energy diagrams. This extension is shown to be essentially important to correctly describe the physical properties of the Bose-Fermi mixture, especially near the Bose-Einstein condensation instability. Using this improved TMA, we clarify how the formation of composite fermions affects Bose and Fermi single-particle excitation spectra, over the entire interaction strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We theoretically investigate the shear viscosity $$\eta $$ , as well as the entropy density s, in the normal state of an ultracold Fermi gas. Including pairing fluctuations within the framework of a T-matrix approximation, we calculate these quantities in the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS)-Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) crossover region. We also evaluate $$\eta / s$$ , to compare it with the lower bound of this ratio, conjectured by Kovtun, Son, and Starinets (KSS bound). In the weak-coupling BCS side, we show that the shear viscosity $$\eta $$ is remarkably suppressed near the superfluid phase transition temperature $$T_{\mathrm{c}}$$ , due to the so-called pseudogap phenomenon. In the strong-coupling BEC side, we find that, within the neglect of the vertex corrections, one cannot correctly describe $$\eta $$ . We also show that $$\eta / s$$ decreases with increasing the interaction strength, to become very close to the KSS bound, $$\hbar /4\pi k_{\mathrm{B}}$$ , on the BEC side. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate strong-coupling properties of a two-dimensional ultracold Fermi gas in the normal state. Including pairing fluctuations within the framework of a T-matrix approximation, we calculate the distribution function $$n({\varvec{Q}})$$ of Cooper pairs in terms of the center of mass momentum $${\varvec{Q}}$$ . In the strong-coupling regime, $$n({\varvec{Q}}=0)$$ is shown to exhibit a remarkable increase with decreasing the temperature in the low temperature region, which agrees well with the recent experiment on a two-dimensional $$^6$$ Li Fermi gas (Ries et al. in Phys Rev Lett 114:230401, ). Our result indicates that the observed remarkable increase of the number of Cooper pairs with zero center of mass momentum can be explained without assuming the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition, when one properly includes pairing fluctuations that are enhanced by the low-dimensionality of the system. Since the BKT transition is a crucial topic in two-dimensional Fermi systems, our results would be useful for the study toward the realization of this quasi-long-range order in an ultracold Fermi gas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the superfluid phase transition in the BCS (Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer)-BEC (Bose-Einstein condensation) crossover regime of an ultracold Fermi gas with mass imbalance. In the presence of mass imbalance, it is known that the strong-coupling Gaussian fluctuation theory, as well as the ordinary non-self-consistent T-matrix theory, that have been extensively used to clarify various BCS-BEC crossover physics in the mass-balanced case, unphysically give double valued superfluid phase transition temperature T in the crossover region. In our previous paper (R. Hanai et al., J. Low Temp. Phys. 171:389, ), this difficulty was shown to be eliminated by an extended T-matrix approximation (ETMA). However, it was also found that this improved theory still gives vanishing T in the BCS regime, when the mass imbalance ratio remarkably deviates from unity. In this paper, further extending ETMA to include higher order pairing fluctuations to the fully self-consistent T-matrix level, we clarify whether the vanishing T obtained in ETMA is an intrinsic phenomenon or an artifact of this approximation. We show that the self-consistent T-matrix theory always gives a finite T, even in the region where ETMA predicts the absence of superfluid instability. The key to the recovery of T is found to be a consistent treatment with respect to the Fermi surface sizes of the light mass and heavy mass components, which ETMA lacks in. Since Fermi condensates with mass imbalance have been recently discussed in various systems, such as a K-Li Fermi gas, exciton-polariton condensate, as well as color superconductivity, our results would be useful in constructing a reliable strong-coupling theory to examine physical properties of these novel Fermi superfluids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the effects of non-magnetic impurity scattering on the Andreev bound states (ABS) in an isolated vortex in two-dimensional chiral p-wave superconductors numerically. We incorporate the impurity scattering effects into the quasiclassical Eilenberger formulation through the self-consistent t-matrix approximation. Within this scheme, we calculate the local density of states (LDOS) around two types of vortices: 'parallel' ('anti-parallel') vortex where the phase winding of the pair-potential coming from the vorticity and that coming from the chirality have the same (opposite) sign. When the scattering phase-shift δ of each impurity is small, we find that the impurities affect differently the spectra of quasiparticles localized around the two types of vortices in a way similar to that in the Born limit ( δ→0). For a larger δ(≲ π/2), ABS in the vortex is strongly suppressed by the impurities for both types of vortices. We find that there are some correlations between the suppression of ABS near vortex cores and the low energy density of states due to the impurity bands in the bulk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate magnetic properties of an ultracold Fermi gas with population imbalance. In the presence of population imbalance, the strong-coupling theory developed by Nozières and Schmitt-Rink (which is frequently referred to as the NSR theory, or Gaussian fluctuation theory) is known to give unphysical results in the BCS-BEC crossover region. We point out that this problem comes from how to treat pseudogap effects originating from pairing fluctuations and many-body corrections to the spin susceptibility. We also clarify how to overcome this problem by including higher order fluctuations beyond the ordinary T-matrix approximation. Calculated spin susceptibility based on our extended T-matrix approximation agrees well with the recent experiment on a Li Fermi gas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the superfluid phase transition and effects of mass imbalance in the BCS (Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer)-BEC (Bose-Einstein condensation) crossover regime of an cold Fermi gas. We point out that the Gaussian fluctuation theory developed by Nozières and Schmitt-Rink and the T-matrix theory, that are now widely used to study strong-coupling physics of cold Fermi gases, give unphysical results in the presence of mass imbalance. To overcome this problem, we extend the T-matrix theory to include higher-order pairing fluctuations. Using this, we examine how the mass imbalance affects the superfluid phase transition. Since the mass imbalance is an important key in various Fermi superfluids, such as K-Li Fermi gas mixture, exciton condensate, and color superconductivity in a dense quark matter, our results would be useful for the study of these recently developing superfluid systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate pseudogap phenomena originating from pairing fluctuations in the BCS-BEC crossover regime of a two-dimensional Fermi gas in a harmonic trap. Including pairing fluctuations within a T-matrix theory and effects of a trap within the local density approximation, we calculate the local density of states (LDOS) at the superfluid phase transition temperature T. In the weak-coupling regime, we show that the pseudogap already appears in LDOS around the trap center. The spatial region where the pseudogap can be seen in LDOS becomes wider for a strong pairing interaction. We also discuss how the pseudogap affects the spectrum of the photoemission-type experiment developed by JILA group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study cold fermions in 2D that are interacting through the s-wave contact potential, using the path-integral formalism. The phase transitions are investigated using the joint solution of the gap and number equations. In the latter ones, the amplitude and phase fluctuations are taken into account within the t-matrix NSR-type formalism. It is shown that convergent solutions for the fermion density in 2D can be obtained even in the lowest-order (quadratic) approximation for fluctuations with a proper determination of the spectral functions. This approach leads, in particular, to a non-coherent quasicondensate which exists between the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition temperature below which the system is superfluid and a transition temperature T above which the quasicondensate is destroyed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  We study pseudogap behaviors of ultracold Fermi gases in the BCS-BEC crossover region. We calculate the density of states (DOS), as well as the single-particle spectral weight, above the superfluid transition temperature T c including pairing fluctuations within a T-matrix approximation. We find that DOS exhibits a pseudogap structure in the BCS-BEC crossover region, which is most remarkable near the unitarity limit. We determine the pseudogap temperature T * at which the pseudogap structure in DOS disappears. We also introduce another temperature T ** at which the BCS-like double-peak structure disappears in the spectral weight. While one finds T *>T ** in the BCS regime, T ** becomes higher than T * in the crossover and BEC regime. We also determine the pseudogap region in the phase diagram in terms of temperature and pairing interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]