Equation of state of a Fermi gas in the BEC-BCS crossover: A quantum Monte Carlo study

We calculate the equation of state of a two-component Fermi gas with attractive short-range interspecies interactions using the fixed-node diffusion Monte Carlo method. The interaction strength is varied over a wide range by tuning the value a of the s-wave scattering length of the two-body potential. For a>0 and a smaller than the inverse Fermi wave vector our results show a molecular regime with repulsive interactions well described by the dimer-dimer scattering length a(m)=0.6a. The pair correlation functions of parallel and opposite spins are also discussed as a function of the interaction strength.