Multi-component strongly attractive Fermi gas: a color superconductor in a one-dimensional harmonic trap

Abstract

Recent advances in ultra-cold atomic Fermi gases make it possible to achieve a fermionic superfluid with multiple spin components. In this context, any mean-field description is expected to fail, owing to the presence of tightly bound clusters or molecules that consist of more than two particles. Here we present a detailed study of a strongly interacting multi-component Fermi gas in a highly elongated or quasi-one-dimensional harmonic trap, which could be readily obtained in experiment. By using the exact Bethe ansatz solution and a local density approximation treatment of the harmonic trap, we investigate the equation of state of the multi-component Fermi gas in both a homogeneous and trapped environment, as well as the density profiles and low-energy collective modes. The binding energy of multi-component bound clusters is also given. We show that there is a peak in the collective mode frequency at the critical density for a deconfining transition to a many-body state that is analogous to the quark color superconductor state expected in neutron stars.

14 pages, 9 figures

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• Spin 3/2 fermions with attractive interactions in a one-dimensional optical lattice: phase diagrams, entanglement entropy, and the effect of the trap
• Three-Component Fermi Gas in a one-dimensional Optical Lattice
• Magnetic Phase Transitions in One-dimensional Strongly Attractive Three-Component Ultracold Fermions
• Unified description of pairing, trionic and quarteting states for one-dimensional SU(4) attractive fermions
• Stability of Inhomogeneous Multi-Component Fermi Gases
• Classical and quantum analysis of a heterotriatomic molecular Bose-Einstein-condensate model