One particle in a box: The simplest model for a Fermi gas in the unitary limit

Abstract

We consider a single quantum particle in a spherical box interacting with a fixed scatterer at the center, to construct a model of a degenerate atomic Fermi gas close to a Feshbach resonance. One of the key predictions of the model is the existence of two branches for the macroscopic state of the gas, as a function of the magnetic field controlling the value of the scattering length.This model is able to draw a qualitative picture of all the different features recently observed in a degenerate atomic Fermi gas close to the resonance, even in the unitary limit.