Observation of shock waves in a strongly interacting Fermi gas.

Journal Article (Journal Article)

We study collisions between two strongly interacting atomic Fermi gas clouds. We observe exotic nonlinear hydrodynamic behavior, distinguished by the formation of a very sharp and stable density peak as the clouds collide and subsequent evolution into a boxlike shape. We model the nonlinear dynamics of these collisions by using quasi-1D hydrodynamic equations. Our simulations of the time-dependent density profiles agree very well with the data and provide clear evidence of shock wave formation in this universal quantum hydrodynamic system.

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Duke Authors

Thomas, John E.

Cited Authors

Joseph, JA; Thomas, JE; Kulkarni, M; Abanov, AG

Published Date

April 2011

Published In

Physical Review Letters

Volume / Issue

106 / 15

Start / End Page

150401 -

PubMed ID

21568532

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

1079-7114

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0031-9007

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1103/physrevlett.106.150401

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