Density Functional Theory for non-relativistic Fermions in the Unitarity Limit

Understand

We derive an energy density functional for non-relativistic spin one-half fermions in the limit of a divergent two-body scattering length.

• Using an epsilon expansion around d=4-epsilon spatial dimensions we compute the coefficient of the leading correction beyond the local density approximation (LDA).
• In the case of N fermionic atoms trapped in a harmonic potential this correction has the form E=E_(LDA)(1+c_s (3N)^(-2/3)), where E_(LDA) is the total energy in LDA approximation.
• At next-to-leading order in the epsilon expansion we find c_s=1.68, which is significantly larger than the result for non-interacting fermions, c_s=0.5.