BCS-BEC crossover in bilayers of cold fermionic polar molecules

We investigate the quantum and thermal phase diagram of fermionic polar molecules loaded in a bilayer trapping potential with perpendicular dipole moment. We use both a BCS-theory approach that is most reliable at weak coupling and a strong-coupling approach that considers the two-body bound dimer states with one molecule in each layer as the relevant degree of freedom. The system ground state is a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of dimer bound states in the low-density limit and a paired superfluid (BCS) state in the high-density limit. At zero temperature, the intralayer repulsion is found to broaden the regime of BCS-BEC crossover and can potentially induce system collapse through the softening of roton excitations. The BCS theory and the strongly coupled dimer picture yield similar predictions for the parameters of the crossover regime. The Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition temperature of the dimer superfluid is also calculated. The crossover can be driven by many-body effects and is strongly affected by the intralayer interaction which was ignored in previous studies

Few-body bound state stability of dipolar molecules in two dimensions

Bound structures among dipolar molecules in multilayers are a topic of great interest in the light of recent experiments that have demonstrated the feasibility of the setup. While it is known that two molecules in two adjacent layers will always bind, larger complexes have only been scarcely addressed thus far. Here we prove rigorously that three- and four-body states will never be bound when the dipoles are oriented perpendicular to the layers. The technique employed is general and can be used for more molecules/layers and other geometries. Our analytical findings are supported by numerical calculations for both fermionic and bosonic molecules. Furthermore, we calculate the reduction in intralayer repulsion necessary to bind large complexes and estimate the influence of bound complexes in systems with many layers.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, final versio

Borromean ground state of fermions in two dimensions

The study of quantum mechanical bound states is as old as quantum theory itself. Yet, it took many years to realize that three-body borromean systems that are bound when any two-body subsystem is unbound are abundant in nature. Here we demonstrate the existence of borromean systems of spin-polarized (spinless) identical fermions in two spatial dimensions. The ground state with zero orbital (planar) angular momentum exists in a borromean window between critical two- and three-body strengths. The doubly degenerate first excited states of angular momentum one appears only very close to the two-body threshold. They are the lowest in a possible sequence of so-called super-Efimov states. While the observation of the super-Efimov scaling could be very difficult, the borromean ground state should be observable in cold atomic gases and could be the basis for producing a quantum gas of three-body states in two dimensions.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, published versio

Three-body recombination at finite energy within an optical model

We investigate three-boson recombination of equal mass systems as function of (negative) scattering length, mass, finite energy, and finite temperature. An optical model with an imaginary potential at short distance reproduces experimental recombination data and allows us to provide a simple parametrization of the recombination rate as function of scattering length and energy. Using the two-body van der Waals length as unit we find that the imaginary potential range and also the potential depth agree to within thirty percent for Lithium and Cesium atoms. As opposed to recent studies suggesting universality of the threshold for bound state formation, our results suggest that the recombination process itself could have universal features.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Hyperspherical Treatment of Strongly-Interacting Few-Fermion Systems in One Dimension

We examine a one-dimensional two-component fermionic system in a trap, assuming that all particles have the same mass and interact through a strong repulsive zero-range force. First we show how a simple system of three strongly interacting particles in a harmonic trap can be treated using the hyperspherical formalism. Next we discuss the behavior of the energy for the N-body system.Comment: 5 pages. Original paper for EPJ ST in connection with the workshop BEC2014 28-31 May 2014 in Levico Terme, Ital

Shell-Model Monte Carlo Simulations of BCS-BEC Crossover in Few-Fermion Systems

We study a trapped system of fermions with a zero-range two-body interaction using the shell-model Monte Carlo method, providing {\em ab initio} results for the low particle number limit where mean-field theory is not applicable. We present results for the $N$-body energies as function of interaction strength, particle number, and temperature. The subtle question of renormalization in a finite model space is addressed and the convergence of our method and its applicability across the BCS-BEC crossover is discussed. Our findings indicate that very good quantitative results can be obtained on the BCS side, whereas at unitarity and in the BEC regime the convergence is less clear. Comparison to N=2 analytics at zero and finite temperature, and to other calculations in the literature for $N>2$ show very good agreement.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, Revtex4, final versio