Metastability in spin-polarized Fermi gases and quasiparticle decays

Abstract

The metastability associated with the first-order transition from the normal to the superfluid phase is investigated in the phase diagram of twocomponent polarized Fermi gases. We begin by detailing the dominant decay processes of single quasiparticles, determining the momentum thresholds of each process and calculating their rates. This understanding is then applied to a Fermi sea of polarons, and we predict a region of metastability for the normal partially polarized phase. We propose experiments to observe the threshold of the metastable region, the interaction strength at which the quasiparticle ground state changes character, and the decay rate of polarons. © IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.