Recent experiments demonstrate the ability to construct cold atom mixtures with species selective optical lattices. This allows for the possibility of a mixed-dimension system, where one fermionic atomic species is confined to a two dimensional lattice, while another species is confined to a three dimensional lattice that contains the two-dimensional one. We show that by tuning the density of an arbitrary number of three-dimensional atomic species, we can engineer an arbitrary, rotationally-symmetric, density-density, effective interaction for the two-dimensional particles. This possibility allows for an effective interaction that favours triplet pairing for two-dimensional, $SU(2)$ symmetric particles. Using a functional renormalization-group analysis for the two-dimensional particles, we derive and numerically confirm that the critical temperature for triplet pairing depends exponentially on the effective interaction strength. We then analyse how the stability of this phase is affected by the particle densities and the fine tuning of interaction parameters. We conclude by briefly discussing experimental considerations and the potential to study triplet pairing physics, including Majorana fermions and spin textures, with cold atoms on optical lattices.

We study a mixture of ultracold spin-half fermionic and spin-one bosonic atoms in a shallow optical lattice where the bosons are coupled to the fermions via both density-density and spin-spin interactions. We consider the parameter regime where the bosons are in a superfluid ground state, integrate them out, and obtain an effective action for the fermions. We carry out a renormalization group analysis of this effective fermionic action at low temperatures, show that the presence of the spinor bosons may lead to a separation of Fermi surfaces of the spin-up and spin-down fermions, and investigate the parameter range where this phenomenon occurs. We also calculate the susceptibilities corresponding to the possible superfluid instabilities of the fermions and obtain their possible broken-symmetry ground states at low temperatures and weak interactions. © 2011 American Physical Society.

The renormalization group (RG) method developed by Ken Wilson more than four decades ago has revolutionized the way we think about problems involving a broad range of energy scales such as phase transitions, turbulence, continuum limits and bifurcations in dynamical systems. The Theme Issue provides articles reviewing recent progress made using the RG method in atomic, condensed matter, nuclear and particle physics. In the following, we introduce these articles in a way that emphasizes common themes and the universal aspects of the method.

For the one-dimensional Holstein model, we show that the relations among the scaling exponents of various correlation functions of the Tomonaga Luttinger liquid (LL), while valid in the thermodynamic limit, are significantly modified by finite-size corrections. We obtain analytical expressions for these corrections and find that they decrease very slowly with increasing system size. The interpretation of numerical data on finite-size lattices in terms of LL theory must therefore take these corrections into account. As an important example, we re-examine the proposed metallic phase of the zero-temperature, half-filled one-dimensional Holstein model without employing the LL relations. In particular, using quantum Monte Carlo calculations, we study the competition between the singlet pairing and charge ordering. Our results do not support the existence of a dominant singlet pairing state. © 2011 American Physical Society.

The paradigm of Schr\"{o}dinger's cat illustrates how quantum states preclude the assignment of definite properties to a macroscopic object (realism). In this work we develop a method to investigate the indefiniteness of cat states using currently available cold atom technology. The method we propose uses the observation of a statistical distribution to demonstrate the macroscopic distinction between dead and alive states, and uses the determination of the interferometric sensitivity (Fisher information) to detect the indefiniteness of the cat's vital status. We show how combining the two observations can provide information about the structure of the quantum state without the need for full quantum state tomography, and propose a measure of the indefiniteness based on this structure. We test this method using a cat state proposed by Gordon and Savage [Phys. Rev. A 59, 4623 (1999)] which is dynamically produced from a coherent state. As a control, we consider a set of states produced using the same dynamical procedure acting on an initial thermal distribution. Numerically simulating our proposed method, we show that as the temperature of this initial state is increased, the produced state undergoes a quantum to classical crossover where the indefiniteness of the cat's vital status is lost, while the macroscopic distinction between dead and alive states of the cat is maintained.

By developing a semi-classical analysis based on the Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis, we determine the long time behavior of a large spin evolving with a nonlinear Hamiltonian. Despite integrable classical dynamics, we find the Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis for the diagonal matrix elements of observables is satisfied in the majority of eigenstates, and thermalization of long time averaged observables is generic. The exception is a novel mechanism for the breakdown of thermalization based on an unstable fixed point in the classical dynamics. Using the semi-classical analysis we derive how the equilibrium values of observables encode properties of the initial state. This analysis shows an unusual memory effect in which the remembered initial state property is not conserved in the integrable classical dynamics. We conclude with a discussion of relevant experiments and the potential generality of this mechanism for long time memory and the breakdown of thermalization.

The electron-electron interactions affect the low-energy excitations of an electronic system and induce deformations of the Fermi surface. These effects are especially important in anisotropic materials with strong correlations, such as copper-oxide superconductors or ruthenates. Here we analyze the deformations produced by electronic correlations in the Fermi surface of anisotropic two-dimensional systems, treating the regular and singular regions of the Fermi surface on the same footing. Simple analytical expressions are obtained for the corrections, based on local features of the Fermi surface. It is shown that, even for weak local interactions, the behavior of the self-energy is nontrivial, showing a momentum dependence and a self-consistent interplay with the Fermi surface topology. Results are compared to experimental observations and to other theoretical results. © 2006 The American Physical Society.

We analyze the deformations of the Fermi surface induced by electron-electron interactions in anisotropic two-dimensional systems. We use perturbation theory to treat, on the same footing, the regular and singular regions of the Fermi surface. It is shown that, even for weak local coupling, the self-energy presents a nontrivial behavior showing momentum dependence and interplay with the Fermi surface shape. Our scheme gives simple analytical expressions based on local features of the Fermi surface. © EDP Sciences.