The contact in the BCS-BEC crossover for finite range interacting ultracold Fermi gases (Q401679)

The letter focuses on studying the contact variable, which yields information on a host of different properties, namely density-density correlations, the number of pairs in the closed channel of Feinbach resonance, and on the forms of the thermodynamic variables at unitarity. The calculation of the contact is very sensitive to different approximations, and the usual mean-field (MF) approach is inappropriate, since it predicts divergent behavior of several thermodynamic variables at unitarity in contrast to existing evidences. The letter shows that MF remains correct even at unitarity and that the trouble is not caused by the ansatz itself, but by not taking into account the finiteness of the interatomic potential range. With this aim, the crossover within the Bardeen-Cooper-Schriefer (BCS) mean field theory is studied, but without making the usual contact approximation in the interatomic interaction potential, i.e., the thermodynamics is calculated at zero temperature for a realistic finite range potential. The letter also allows for probing the region of large interaction ranges, where BCS-BEC (Bose-Einstein condensation) crossover appears to become a true phase transition. First, the system is considered, presenting a balanced mixture of two monoatomic fermionic species with the same atomic mass. The MF approach bases on the BCS ansatz for the ground state of the gas. Then, the ground potential is found, for which the common chemical potential ensures for both species a balanced mixture, taking into account Hartree and Fock energy contributions. By this, the variational scheme yields a gap equation. These equations are valid for any short-range interatomic potential. The authors show that in the deep BCS and BEC regimes MF yields expected correct asymptotic results and, at unitarity, reasonable agreement with more sophisticated calculations. In order to avoid the contact approximation, a physically acceptable interatomic potential of exponential type is used for which its Fourier transform can be analytically calculated. Then the authors consider the BCS-BEC crossover through the first scattering resonance. The results of the contact approximation recover in the limit of finite range, aspiring to zero. To analyze the thermodynamics in the whole BCS-BEC crossover, the stated equation set is numerically solved, including an equation for the two-body scattering length. As a result, the authors define the chemical potential, the pressure and the Contact variable. The Contact variable is determined for the whole crossover at zero temperature. It is assumed that its behavior is given by the weakly interacting approximations of a Fermi liquid in the BCS side and by the diatomic version of a Bose gas with repulsive interactions in the BEC side, these in turn, are given by the Huang-Yang-Lee expressions. Finally, the unitarity region is discussed, where the scattering length diverges, signaling the appearance of a resonance and giving rise to very strong interatomic interactions.