Spin 1/2 Fermions in the Unitary Limit

Abstract

The energy shift due to the interaction of two particles in a large box is proportional to the free particle scattering phase-shift. This provides an approximation to the effective interaction referred to as the phase-shift approximation. For a many-body fermion system this effective interaction has to be corrected for the Pauli-blocking. It is used to calculate the energy of a spin 1/2 fermion system as a function of the two-body scattering length and effective range. In the unitary limit with scattering length going to infinity and effective range going to zero the energy is 0.540 (in the units of the non-interactiong fermi gas energy) with a pp-ladder summation. Including hh-ladders the energy is 0.570. A smooth crossover from the BCS to the BEC region is observed. Pairing is not included.