Spin-orbit coupled Fermi liquid theory of ultra-cold magnetic dipolar fermions

TL;DR

This paper develops a Fermi liquid theory for ultra-cold magnetic dipolar fermions, revealing intrinsic spin-orbit coupling, thermodynamic instabilities, and novel collective modes with topologically nontrivial spin configurations.

Contribution

It introduces a spin-orbit coupled Fermi liquid framework for magnetic dipolar gases, highlighting unique instabilities and collective excitations absent in electric dipolar systems.

Findings

Identification of ferromagnetic and ferronematic instabilities

Discovery of a topologically nontrivial spin-orbit coupled collective mode

Diagonalization of Landau interaction matrix in total angular momentum channels

Abstract

We investigate Fermi liquid states of the ultra-cold magnetic dipolar Fermi gases in the simplest two-component case including both thermodynamic instabilities and collective excitations. The magnetic dipolar interaction is invariant under the simultaneous spin-orbit rotation, but not under either the spin or the orbit one. Therefore, the corresponding Fermi liquid theory is intrinsically spin-orbit coupled. This is a fundamental feature of magnetic dipolar Fermi gases different from electric dipolar ones. The Landau interaction matrix is calculated and is diagonalized in terms of the spin-orbit coupled partial-wave channels of the total angular momentum J. The leading thermodynamic instabilities lie in the channels of ferromagnetism hybridized with the ferronematic order with J = 1+ and the spin-current mode with J = 1-, where + and - represent even and odd parities, respectively. An exotic propagating collective mode is identified as spin-orbit coupled Fermi surface oscillations in which spin distribution on the Fermi surface exhibits a topologically nontrivial hedgehog configuration.