Fermi gases in one dimension: From Bethe ansatz to experiments

We derive an effective field theory describing the long wavelength, low energy properties of one-dimensional (1D) attractive Fermi gases with spin imbalance. Our theory is based on the exact solution (Bethe ansatz) of the microscopic Hamiltonian, the Gaudin-Yang model. We show that the 1D Fulde-Ferrel-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) state is a novel quantum fluid, a two-component Luttinger liquid with spin-charge mixing. Applying the theory, we obtain the correlation functions and the universal low temperature thermodynamics. Our theory can also predict the phase diagram of weakly coupled 1D gases, a quasi-1D system recently realized in experiments at Rice university.

We study the thermodynamics of a one-dimensional attractive Fermi gas (the Gaudin-Yang model) with spin imbalance. The exact solution has been known from the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz for decades, but it involves an infinite number of coupled nonlinear integral equations whose physics is difficult to extract. Here the solution is analytically reduced to a simple, powerful set of four algebraic equations. The simplified equations become universal and exact in the experimental regime of strong interaction and relatively low temperature. Using the new formulation, we discuss the qualitative features of finite-temperature crossover and make quantitative predictions on the density profiles in traps. We propose a practical two-stage scheme to achieve accurate thermometry for a trapped spin-imbalanced Fermi gas.

We address the problem of computing the thermodynamic properties of the repulsive one-dimensional two-component Fermi gas with contact interaction, also known as the Gaudin-Yang model. Using a specific lattice embedding and the quantum transfer matrix we derive an exact system of only two nonlinear integral equations for the thermodynamics of the homogeneous model which is valid for all temperatures and values of the chemical potential, magnetic field and coupling strength. This system allows for an easy and extremely accurate calculation of thermodynamic properties circumventing the difficulties associated with the truncation of the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz system of equations. We present extensive results for the densities, polarization, magnetic susceptibility, specific heat, interaction energy, Tan contact and local correlation function of opposite spins. Our results show that at low and intermediate temperatures the experimentally accessible contact is a non-monotonic function of the coupling strength. As a function of the temperature the contact presents a pronounced local minimum in the Tonks-Girardeau regime which signals an abrupt change of the momentum distribution in a small interval of temperature. The density profiles of the system in the presence of a harmonic trapping potential are computed using the exact solution of the homogeneous model coupled with the local density approximation. We find that at finite temperature the density profile presents a double shell structure (partially polarized center and fully polarized wings) only when the polarization in the center of the trap is above a critical value which is monotonically increasing with temperature.

Tuning interactions in the spin singlet and quintet channels of two colliding atoms could change the symmetry of the one-dimensional spin-3/2 fermionic systems of ultracold atoms while preserving the integrability. Here we find a novel SO(4) symmetry integrable point in the spin-3/2 Fermi gas and derive the exact solution of the model using the Bethe ansatz. In contrast to the model with SU(4) and SO(5) symmetries, the present model with SO(4) symmetry preserves spin singlet and quintet Cooper pairs in two sets of SU(2)⊗SU(2) spin subspaces. We obtain full phase diagrams, including the Fulde–Ferrel–Larkin–Ovchinnikov like pair correlations, spin excitations and quantum criticality through the generalized Yang–Yang thermodynamic equations. In particular, various correlation functions are calculated by using finite-size corrections in the frame work of conformal field theory. Moreover, within the local density approximation, we further find that spin singlet and quintet pairs form subtle multiple shell structures in density profiles of the trapped gas.

The one-dimensional system interacting via a delta-function interparticle interaction is a very important one in cold atomic systems and has fundamental importance in many-body physics. In one dimension, due to the geometric confinement induced quantum correlations and quantum fluctuations, there may exist a number of unusual phenomena, such as spin-charge separation, effective fermionization and quantum criticality. This paper studies the basic properties of a uniform one-dimensional Gaudin-Yang model for fermions by solving the thermodynamic Bethe-ansatz equations by a numerical method. Numerically, we use the many-variable Newton’s method to solve the coupled equations. We analyze the physical properties, including density, interaction, temperature and entropy at a given temperature and a given interaction, separately. We know that a lot of researches are limited to zero temperature. However, we cannot reach the absolute zero temperature in the real cold atomic experiment. So it is important to deal with the finite temperature problems. We study the density and entropy as a function of the chemical potential, temperature and interaction and, then give the phase diagrams, respectively. We found that there is a quantum critical zone in the phase diagram of entropy, including the high temperature zone with thermal fluctuations and the Luttinger liquid zone with quantum fluctuations. For a given temperature and low chemical potential, the thermal fluctuations are the main factor in the entropy. With the increase of chemical potential, the system enters the quantum critical zone where the competitive effect between the thermal fluctuations and the quantum fluctuations exists. When the chemical potential is large enough, the quantum fluctuations become the main factor in the system’s entropy, and we get the Luttinger liquid phase. Our results can be further used in the finite temperature density-functional theory and to analyze the collective phenomena at a finite temperature.

Using the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz equations we study the quantum phase diagram, thermodynamics and criticality of one-dimensional spin-1 bosons with strongly repulsive density-density and antiferromagnetic spin-exchange interactions. We analytically derive a high precision equation of state from which the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid physics and quantum critical behavior of the system are computed. We obtain explicit forms for the scaling functions near the critical points yielding the dynamical exponent $z=2$ and correlation length exponent $\nu=1/2$ for the quantum phase transitions driven by either the chemical potential or the magnetic field. Consequently, we further demonstrate that quantum criticality of the system can be mapped out from the finite temperature density and magnetization profiles of the 1D trapped gas. Our results provide the physical origin of quantum criticality in a 1D many-body system beyond the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid description.

To a casual ostrich the world of quantum physics in one dimension may sound a little one-dimensional, suitable perhaps for those with an unhealthy obsession for the esoteric. Nothing of course could be further from the truth. The field is remarkably rich and broad, and for more than fifty years has thrown up innumerable challenges. Theorists, realising that the role of interactions in 1D is special and that well known paradigms of higher dimensions (Fermi liquid theory for example) no longer apply, took up the challenge of developing new concepts and techniques to understand the undoubted pecularities of one-dimensional systems. And experimentalists have succeeded in turning pipe dreams into reality, producing an impressive and ever increasing array of experimental realizations of 1D systems, from the molecular to the mesoscopic---spin and ladder compounds, organic superconductors, carbon nanotubes, quantum wires, Josephson junction arrays and so on.

This article briefly reviews recent theoretical developments in quantum critical phenomena in one-dimensional (1D) integrable quantum gases of cold atoms. We present a discussion on quantum phase transitions, universal thermodynamics, scaling functions and correlations for a few prototypical exactly solved models, such as the Lieb–Liniger Bose gas, the spin-1 Bose gas with antiferromagnetic spin-spin interaction, the two-component interacting Fermi gas as well as spin-3/2 Fermi gases. We demonstrate that their corresponding Bethe ansatz solutions provide a precise way to understand quantum many-body physics, such as quantum criticality, Luttinger liquids (LLs), the Wilson ratio, Tan's Contact, etc. These theoretical developments give rise to a physical perspective using integrability for uncovering experimentally testable phenomena in systems of interacting bosonic and fermonic ultracold atoms confined to 1D.

At low temperature, collective excitations of one-dimensional (1D) interacting fermions exhibit spin-charge separation, a unique feature predicted by the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid (TLL) theory, but a rigorous understanding remains challenging. Using the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz (TBA) formalism, we analytically derive universal properties of a 1D repulsive spin-1/2 Fermi gas with arbitrary interaction strength. We show how spin-charge separation emerges from the exact TBA formalism, and how it is disrupted by the interplay between the two degrees of freedom that brings us beyond the TLL paradigm. Based on the exact low-lying excitation spectra, we further evaluate the spin and charge dynamical structure factors (DSFs). The peaks of the DSFs exhibit distinguishable propagating velocities of spin and charge as functions of interaction strength, which can be observed by Bragg spectroscopy with ultracold atoms.

We study the quenching dynamics of a many-body system in one dimension described by a Hamiltonian that has spatial periodicity. Specifically, we consider a spin-1/2 chain with equal xx and yy couplings and subject to a periodically varying magnetic field in the z direction or, equivalently, a tight-binding model of spinless fermions with a periodic local chemical potential, having period 2q, where q is a natural number. For a linear quench of the magnetic field strength (or potential strength) at rate 1/\tau across a quantum critical point, we find that the density of defects thereby produced scales as 1/\tau^{q/(q+1)}, deviating from the 1/\sqrt{\tau} scaling that is ubiquitous to a range of systems. We analyze this behavior by mapping the low-energy physics of the system to a set of fermionic two-level systems labeled by the lattice momentum k undergoing a non-linear quench as well as by performing numerical simulations. We also find that if the magnetic field is a superposition of different periods, the power law depends only on the smallest period for very large values of \tau although it may exhibit a cross-over at intermediate values of \tau. Finally, for the case where a zz coupling is also present in the spin chain, or equivalently, where interactions are present in the fermionic system, we argue that the power associated with the scaling law depends on a combination of q and interaction strength.

We reconsider the spectrum of the Luttinger liquid (LL) usually understood in terms of phonons (density fluctuations), and within the context of bosonization we give an alternative representation in terms of fractional states. This allows to make contact with Bethe Ansatz which predicts similar fractional states. As an example we study the spinon operator in the absence of spin rotational invariance and derive it from first principles: we find that it is not a semion in general; a trial Jastrow wavefunction is also given for that spinon state. Our construction of the new spectroscopy based on fractional states leads to several new physical insights: in the low-energy limit, we find that the $S_{z}=0$ continuum of gapless spin chains is due to pairs of fractional quasiparticle-quasihole states which are the 1D counterpart of the Laughlin FQHE quasiparticles. The holon operator for the Luttinger liquid with spin is also derived. In the presence of a magnetic field, spin-charge separation is not realized any longer in a LL: the holon and the spinon are then replaced by new fractional states which we are able to describe.

The one-dimensional Lieb-Liniger Bose gas is a prototypical many-body system featuring universal Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid (TLL) physics and free fermion quantum criticality. We analytically calculate finite temperature local pair correlations for the strong coupling Bose gas at quantum criticality using the polylog function in the framework of the Yang-Yang thermodynamic equations. We show that the local pair correlation has the universal value $g^{(2)}(0)\approx 2 p/(n\varepsilon)$ in the quantum critical regime, the TLL phase and the quasi-classical region, where $p$ is the pressure per unit length rescaled by the interaction energy $\varepsilon=\frac{\hbar^2}{2m} c^2$ with interaction strength $c$ and linear density $n$. This suggests the possibility to test finite temperature local pair correlations for the TLL in the relativistic dispersion regime and to probe quantum criticality with the local correlations beyond the TLL phase. Furthermore, thermodynamic properties at high temperatures are obtained by both high temperature and virial expansion of the Yang-Yang thermodynamic equation.

We consider momentum resolved tunneling between a Luttinger liquid and a two-dimensional electron gas as a function of transverse magnetic field. We include the effects of an anomalous exponent and Zeeman splitting on both the Luttinger liquid and the two-dimensional electron gas. We show that there are six dispersing features that should be observed in magneto-tunneling, in contrast with the four features that would be seen in a noninteracting one-dimensional electron gas. The strength of these features varies with the anomalous exponent, being most pronounced when ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{\ensuremath{\rho}}=0$. We argue that this measurement provides an important experimental signature of spin-charge separation.

We present a systematic procedure to extract the perturbative series for the ground state energy density in the Lieb-Liniger and Gaudin-Yang models, starting from the Bethe ansatz solution. This makes it possible to calculate explicitly the coefficients of these series and to study their large order behavior. We find that both series diverge factorially and are not Borel summable. In the case of the Gaudin-Yang model, the first Borel singularity is determined by the non-perturbative energy gap. This provides a new perspective on the Cooper instability.

We numerically study imbalanced two component Fermi gases with attractive interactions in highly elongated harmonic traps. An accurate parametrization formula for the ground state energy is presented for a spin-polarized attractive Gaudin-Yang model. Our studies are based on an accurate microscopic spin-density-functional theory through the Kohn-Sham scheme which employs the one-dimensional homogeneous Gaudin-Yang model with a Luther-Emery-liquid ground-state correlation as a reference system. A Thomas-Fermi approximation is examined incorporating the exchange-correlation interaction. By studying the charge and spin density profiles of the system based on these methods, we gain a quantitative understanding of the role of attractive interactions and polarization on the formation of the two-shell structure, with the coexisted Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov-type phase in the center of the trap and either the BCS superfluid phase or the normal phase at the edges of the trap. Our results are in good agreement with the recent theoretical consequences.