Spin transport in cold Fermi gases: a pseudogap interpretation of spin diffusion experiments at unitarity

Abstract

We address recent spin transport experiments in ultracold unitary Fermi gases. We provide a theoretical understanding for how the measured temperature dependence of the spin diffusivity at low T can disagree with the expected behavior of a Fermi liquid (FL), while the spin susceptiblity, following the experimental protocols, is consistent with a FL picture. We show that the experimental protocols for extracting the spin susceptibility implicitly reflect a FL viewpoint; relaxing this leads to consistency within but not proof of a pseudogap-based theory. Our transport calculations yield insight into the observed suppression of the spin diffusion constant at lower T. © 2011 American Physical Society.