Unitary Fermi superfluid near the critical temperature: thermodynamics and sound modes from elementary excitations

TL;DR

This paper compares experimental data on a unitary Fermi superfluid near its critical temperature with a thermodynamic model based on elementary excitations, successfully explaining sound modes and superfluid properties.

Contribution

The authors develop and validate a thermodynamic model based on elementary excitations that accurately describes sound modes and superfluid behavior near the critical temperature.

Findings

Good agreement with experimental data for first and second sound

Mode mixing between first and second sound observed

Density perturbations excite both sound modes near critical temperature

Abstract

We compare recent experimental results [Science 375, 528 (2022)] of the superfluid unitary Fermi gas near the critical temperature with a thermodynamic model based on elementary excitations of the system. We find very good agreement between experimental data and our theory for several quantities such as first sound, second sound, and superfluid fraction. We also show that mode mixing between first and second sound occurs. Finally, we characterize the response amplitude to a density perturbation: close to the critical temperature both first and second sound can be excited through a density perturbation, whereas at lower temperatures only the first sound mode exhibits a significant response.