Abstract
We study theoretically a dilute gas of identical fermions interacting via a -wave resonance. We show that, depending on the microscopic physics, there are two distinct regimes of -wave resonant superfluids, which we term “weak” and “strong.” Although expected naively to form a paired superfluid, a strongly resonant -wave superfluid is in fact unstable toward the formation of a gas of fermionic trimers. We examine this instability and estimate the lifetime of the -wave molecules due to the collisional relaxation into trimers. We discuss consequences for the experimental achievement of -wave superfluids in both weakly and strongly resonant regimes.
- Received 1 June 2007
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.210402
©2007 American Physical Society