SUPERFLUID STATE OF ATOMIC LI-6 IN A MAGNETIC TRAP

We report on a study of the superfluid state of spin-polarized atomic Li-6 confined in a magnetic trap. Density profiles of this degenerate Fermi gas and the spatial distribution of the BCS order parameter are calculated in the local-density approximation. The critical temperatur e is determined as a function of the number of particles in the trap. Furthermore, we consider the mechanical stability of an interacting tw o-component Fermi gas, in the case of both attractive and repulsive in teratomic interactions. For spin-polarized Li-6 we also calculate the decay rate of the gas and show that within the mechanically stable reg ime of phase space, the lifetime is long enough to perform experiments on the gas below and above the critical temperature if a bias magneti c field of about 5 T is applied. Moreover, we propose that a measureme nt of the decay rate of the system might signal the presence of the su perfluid state. [S1050-2947(97)06512-8].