Pairing correlations across the superfluid phase transition in the unitary Fermi gas

TL;DR

This study uses advanced quantum Monte Carlo simulations to investigate the superfluid transition and pairing correlations in the unitary Fermi gas, finding no evidence of a pseudogap above the critical temperature.

Contribution

The paper introduces a canonical ensemble AFMC approach with full Brillouin zone modeling, providing model-independent pairing gap calculations and clarifying the absence of a pseudogap in the unitary Fermi gas.

Findings

Pairing gap vanishes above T_c, indicating no pseudogap.

Spin susceptibility shows reduced spin gap signature.

Finite-size scaling estimates T_c accurately.

Abstract

In the two-component Fermi gas with a contact interaction, a pseudogap regime can exist at temperatures between the superfluid critical temperature $T_c$ and a temperature $T^* > T_c$. This regime is characterized by pairing correlations without superfluidity. However, in the unitary limit of infinite scattering length, the existence of this regime is still debated. To help address this, we have applied finite-temperature auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo (AFMC) to study the thermodynamics of the superfluid phase transition and signatures of the pseudogap in the spin-balanced homogeneous unitary Fermi gas. We present results at finite filling factor $\nu \simeq 0.06$ for the condensate fraction, an energy-staggering pairing gap, the spin susceptibility, and the heat capacity, and compare them to experimental data when available. In contrast to previous AFMC simulations, our model space consists of the complete first Brillouin zone of the lattice, and our calculations are performed in the canonical ensemble of fixed particle number. The canonical ensemble AFMC framework enables the calculation of a model-independent gap, providing direct information on pairing correlations without the need for numerical analytic continuation. We use finite-size scaling to estimate $T_c$ at the corresponding filling factor. We find that the energy-staggering pairing gap vanishes above $T_c$, showing no pseudogap effects, and that the spin susceptibility shows a substantially reduced signature of a spin gap compared to previously reported AFMC simulations.