Effective-range dependence of resonant Fermi gases

Abstract

A Fermi gas of cold atoms allows precise control over the dimensionless effective range, $k_\mathrm{F} R_\mathrm{eff}$, of the Feshbach resonance. Our pseudopotential formalism allows us to create smooth potentials with effective range, $-2 \leq k_\mathrm{F} R_\mathrm{eff} \leq 2$, which we use for a variational and diffusion Monte Carlo study of the ground state of a unitary Fermi gas. We report values for the universal constants of $\xi = 0.388(1)$ and $\zeta = 0.087(1)$, and compute the condensate fraction, momentum distribution, and pair correlations functions. Finally, we show that a gas with $k_\mathrm{F} R_\mathrm{eff} \gtrsim 1.9$ is thermodynamically unstable.