Universality in a 2-component Fermi System at Finite Temperature

Abstract

Thermodynamic properties of a fermionic system close to the unitarity limit, where the 2-body scattering length |a| approaches infinity is studied at high temperature Boltzmann regime. For dilute systems the virial expansion coefficients in the Boltzmann regime are expected, from general arguments, to be universal. A model independent finite temperature T calculation of the third virial coefficient b3(T) is presented. At the unitarity limit, b3(T) = -0.48 is an universal number. The energy density up to the third virial expansion is derived. These results are relevant for dilute neutron matter and could be tested in current atomic experiments on dilute fermionic gases near the Feshbach resonance.

10 pages, 6 figures, LaTeX2e