Abstract: | We consider the possible mechanical instability of an ultracold Fermi gas due to the attractive interactions between fermions of different species. We investigate how the instability, predicted by a mean field calculation, is modified when the gas is trapped in a harmonic potential and quantum effects are included.Received: 19 July 2004, Published online: 6 December 2004PACS: 03.75.Ss Degenerate Fermi gases - 03.75.Kk Dynamic properties of condensates; collective and hydrodynamic excitations, superfluid flow |