Dip-Hump Temperature Dependence of Specific Heat and Effects of Pairing Fluctuations in the Weak-Coupling Side of a P-Wave Interacting Fermi Gas

Abstract

We investigate the specific heat $C_V$ at constant volume in the normal state of a $p$-wave interacting Fermi gas. Including $p$-wave pairing fluctuations within the strong-coupling theory developed by Nozi\`eres and Schmitt-Rink, we show that, in the weak-coupling side, $C_V$ exhibits a dip-hump behavior as a function of the temperature. While the dip is associated with the pseudogap phenomenon near $T_{\rm c}$, the hump structure is found to come from the suppression of Fermi quasiparticle scattering into a $p$-wave molecular state in the Fermi degenerate regime. Since the latter phenomenon does not occur in the ordinary $s$-wave interacting Fermi gas, it may be viewed as a characteristic phenomenon associated with a $p$-wave pairing interaction.