Collective modes in a two-band superfluid of ultracold alkaline-earth-metal atoms close to an orbital Feshbach resonance

Abstract

We discuss the collective modes in an alkaline-earth-metal Fermi gas close to an orbital Feshbach resonance. Unlike the usual Feshbach resonance, the orbital Feshbach resonance in alkaline-earth-metal atoms realizes a two-band superfluid system where the fermionic nature of both the open and the closed channel has to be taken into account. We show that, apart from the usual Anderson-Bogoliubov mode which corresponds to the oscillation of total density, there also appears the long-sought Leggett mode corresponding to the oscillation of relative density between the two channels. The existence of the phonon and the Leggett modes and their evolution are discussed in detail. We show how these collective modes are reflected in the density response of the system.