Induced p -Wave Pairing in Bose-Fermi Mixtures

Cooper pairing caused by an induced interaction represents a paradigm in our description of fermionic superfluidity. Here, we present a strong coupling theory for the critical temperature of p-wave pairing between spin polarized fermions immersed in a Bose-Einstein condensate. The fermions interact via the exchange of phonons in the condensate, and our self-consistent theory takes into account the full frequency and momentum dependence of the resulting induced interaction. We demonstrate that both retardation and self-energy effects are important for obtaining a reliable value of the critical temperature. Focusing on experimentally relevant systems, we perform a systematic analysis varying the boson-boson and boson-fermion interaction strength as well as their masses, and identify the most suitable system for realizing a p-wave superfluid. Our results show that such a superfluid indeed is experimentally within reach using light bosons mixed with heavy fermions.