Fluid-dynamical scheme for equilibrium properties of two trapped fermion species with pairing interactions

Abstract

We present a generalization of the fluid-dynamical scheme developed for nuclear physics to the case of two trapped fermion species with pairing interactions. To establish a macroscopic description of the mass and momentum conservation laws, we adopt a generalization of the usual Thomas-Fermi approach that includes the pairing energy. We analyze the equilibrium density and gap profiles for an equal population mixture of harmonically trapped Li6 atoms for different choices of the local equation of state. We examine slight departures from equilibrium within our formulation, finding that density oscillations can propagate as first sound coupled to pairing vibrations, that in a homogeneous fermion system exhibit a Bogoliubov-like quasiparticle spectrum. In this case, the dispersion relation for the coupled modes displays a rich scenario of stable, unstable, and damped regimes. © 2008 The American Physical Society.