Cooper pair formation in trapped atomic Fermi gases

TL;DR

This paper investigates the dynamics of the BCS transition to superfluidity in trapped atomic lithium-6 gases using the closed time-path formalism, revealing a similarity to laser switching behavior near the critical temperature.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of the closed time-path formalism to analyze the BCS transition dynamics in trapped atomic gases.

Findings

Fokker-Planck equation describes the order parameter near critical temperature

Equation resembles laser switching dynamics

Provides insight into superfluid transition processes

Abstract

We apply the closed time-path formalism to evaluate the dynamics of the BCS transition to the superfluid state in trapped atomic $^6$Li. We find that the Fokker-Planck equation for the probability distribution of the order parameter is, sufficiently close to the critical temperature, identical to the equation that describes the switching on of a single-mode laser.