4.6 Article

Effect of three-body loss on itinerant ferromagnetism in an atomic Fermi gas

Journal

PHYSICAL REVIEW A
Volume 83, Issue 4, Pages -

Publisher

AMER PHYSICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.83.043618

Keywords

-

Funding

  1. National Science Foundation [NSF PHY05-51164]
  2. Royal Commission [1851]
  3. ISF [910/07]
  4. US-Israel BSF

Ask authors/readers for more resources

A recent experiment has provided tentative evidence for itinerant ferromagnetism in an ultracold atomic gas. However, the interpretation of the results is complicated by significant atom losses. We argue that during the loss process the system gradually heats up but remains in local equilibrium. To quantify the consequences of atom loss on the putative ferromagnetic transition we adopt an extended Hertz-Millis theory. The losses damp quantum fluctuations, thus increasing the critical interaction strength needed to induce ferromagnetism and revert the transition from being first order to second order. This effect may resolve a discrepancy between the experiment and previous theoretical predictions. We further illuminate the impact of loss by studying the collective spin excitations in the ferromagnet. Even in the fully polarized state, where loss is completely suppressed, spin waves acquire a decay rate proportional to the three-body loss coefficient.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.6
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available