Superfluid Quenching of the Moment of Inertia in a Strongly Interacting Fermi Gas

Abstract

We report on the observation of a quenched moment of inertia as resulting from superfluidity in a strongly interacting Fermi gas. Our method is based on setting the hydrodynamic gas in slow rotation and determining its angular momentum by detecting the precession of a radial quadrupole excitation. The measurements distinguish between the superfluid or collisional origin of hydrodynamic behavior, and show the phase transition.

v2: revised discussion of experimental results, new figure 3; v3: final version with slightly extended discussion