Theory of Ultracold Atoms 2014 PhD Topics

Ultracold atoms near Feshbach resonances are strongly correlated many-body systems, supporting novel exotic states of matter that may universally exist in new functional materials of high-Tc superconductors and mysterious cosmic objects such as neutron stars. The understanding of these exotic states - being a long-sought theoretical challenge - is the subject of our PhD topics. See: http://www.swinbune.edu.au/feis/caous/

SUT PHYSICS: INTERNATIONAL TOP 100 TOP 2 IN AUSTRALIA (Jiao-Tong List, 2013) Swinburne University of Technology Centre for Quantum and Optical Science

Supervisors: Assoc. Prof. Xia-Ji Liu and Hui Hu

Strong-coupling Diagrammatic Theory

Strongly correlated atomic gases near Feshbach resonances are notoriously difficult to understand, because of the absence of a small interaction parameter. The traditional perturbative expansion in terms of the interaction parameter is not reliable, while ab-initio Monte Carlo simulations often suffer from the Fermi sign problem. Here, we aim to develop quantitative strong-coupling diagrammatic theories and to provide theoretical guidance to experiments at Swinburne University. Quantitative strong-coupling theory of ultracold Fermi and Bose gases Superfluid density of unitary Fermi and Bose gases Density and spin density dynamic structure factor of a unitary Fermi gas

Nature Physics 3, 469 (2007). This is the first published evidence for universality, comparing different strongly interacting Fermi gases.

Quantum Virial Expansion Theory

Quantum virial expansion is an entirely new direction to handle strong correlations, which is extremely useful at high temperatures. It allows a controllable expansion to be worked out even in three dimensions, in terms of a small parameter - the fugacity. It provides an elegant way to bridge the few-body and the many-body worlds. Our specific schemes in this topic include: Four-particle solutions and the fourth virial coefficient High-order expansion of the single-particle spectral function of a unitary Fermi gas Trimer signature in the dynamic structure factor of a unitary Bose gas

Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 160401 (2009); 104, 240407 (2010). Review in Physics Reports 524, 37 (2013).

Superfluidity in Flat Land and One Dimension

Superfluidity in low-dimensional systems exhibits remarkable features, due to strong phase fluctuations. In the flat land of two dimensions, the onset of superfluidity is governed by the so-called Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) mechanism. In one dimension, exotic inhomogeneous superfluid known as Fulde-Ferrell-LarkinOvchinnikov (FFLO) phase may appear. High-precision measurements in lowdimensional strongly interacting Fermi gases are now under way at Swinburne University. In this topic, we aim to study:
Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 070403 (2007); Phys. Rev. A 76, 043605 (2007). FFLO superfluidity in 1D.

Thermodynamics of strongly interacting Fermi and Bose gases in flat land First and second sound across the BKT transition Dimensional crossover from 3D to 2D, and to 1D

Ultracold Atoms with Synthetic Gauge Field

The latest development in ultracold atoms is the engineering of a synthetic gauge field, which leads to the (spin-orbit) coupling between the spin and the orbital degrees of freedom of the atoms. This creates a new frontier that is endowed with a strong interdisciplinary character and a close connection to other research fields, including condensed matter physics, quantum computation and astrophysics. Our research focuses on topological fermionic superfluids and possible exotic bosonic superfluids with nontrivial spin-textures. Topological (inhomogeneous) superfluids with Raman coupling Exotic superfluids in trapped Bose-Einstein condensates with spin-orbit coupling Landau two-fluid hydrodynamics in spin-orbit coupled quantum gases

Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 010402 (2012); 107, 195304 (2011); 110, 020401 (2013). Exotic superfluids in spin-orbit coupled atomic gases.

Deadline: May 31, 2014 Two full scholarships available (A$24,653 pa 3.5y) Apply to: hhu@swin.edu.au