Determination of the Density and Temperature Dependence of the Shear Viscosity of a Unitary Fermi Gas Based on Hydrodynamic Flow

Marcus Bluhm, Jiaxun Hou, and Thomas Schäfer
Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 065302 – Published 10 August 2017
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Abstract

We determine the shear viscosity of the ultracold Fermi gas at unitarity in the normal phase using hydrodynamic expansion data. The analysis is based on a generalized fluid dynamic framework which ensures a smooth transition between the fluid dynamic core of the cloud and the ballistic corona. We use expansion data taken by Joseph, Elliott, and Thomas [Shear Viscosity of a Universal Fermi Gas Near the Superfluid Phase Transition, Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 020401 (2015).] and measurements of the equation of state by Ku et al. [Revealing the superfluid lambda transition in the universal thermodynamics of a unitary Fermi gas, Science 335, 563 (2012).]. We find that the shear viscosity to particle density ratio just above the critical temperature is η/n|Tc=0.41±0.11. We also obtain evidence that the shear viscosity to entropy density ratio has a minimum slightly above Tc with η/s|min=0.50±0.10.

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  • Received 16 April 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.065302

© 2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Fluid Dynamics

Authors & Affiliations

Marcus Bluhm1,2, Jiaxun Hou1, and Thomas Schäfer1

  • 1Department of Physics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695, USA
  • 2Institute of Theoretical Physics, University of Wrocław, 50204 Wrocław, Poland

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Issue

Vol. 119, Iss. 6 — 11 August 2017

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