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Title: Propagation of second sound in a superfluid Fermi gas in the unitary limit

Journal Article · · Physical Review. A
;  [1]
  1. Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Tokyo University of Science, 1-3 Kagurazaka, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8601 (Japan)

We study sound propagation in a uniform superfluid gas of Fermi atoms in the unitary limit. The existence of normal and superfluid components leads to appearance of two sound modes in the collisional regime, referred to as first and second sounds. The second sound is of particular interest as it is a clear signal of a superfluid component. Using Landau's two-fluid hydrodynamic theory, we calculate hydrodynamic sound velocities and these weights in the density response function. The latter is used to calculate the response to a sudden modification of the external potential generating pulse propagation. The amplitude of a pulse which is proportional to the weight in the response function is calculated, the basis of the approach of Nozieres and Schmitt-Rink for the BCS-BEC. We show that, in a superfluid Fermi gas at unitarity, the second-sound pulse is excited with an appreciate amplitude by density perturbations.

OSTI ID:
21316450
Journal Information:
Physical Review. A, Vol. 80, Issue 4; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.80.043613; (c) 2009 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1050-2947
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English