Universal Behavior in Strongly Interacting Fermions

6 June 2007

In a recent Nature Physics article theorists at the University of Queensland
Centre for Quantum-Atom Optics in Australia (Xia-Ji Liu & Peter D. Drummond) and at Renmin University of China in Beijing (Hui Hu) have uncovered universal behavior in strongly interacting fermions. The idea is that a "universal thermodynamic regime," which says that when the force between fermions is strong enough, all fermion species should behave in essentially the same way. This would be true regardless of their mass, density, or interaction details. There is one restriction: the forces have to operate over a short range compared to the spacing between the particles.

For more information please see the American Institute of Physics News Update article.