Ultracold gases of ytterbium: ferromagnetism and Mott states in an SU(6) Fermi system

It is argued that an ultracold quantum degenerate gas of ytterbium Yb-173 atoms having nuclear spin I = 5/2 exhibits an enlarged SU(6) symmetry. Within the Landau Fermi liquid theory, stability criteria against Fermi liquid (Pomeranchuk) instabilities in the spin channel are considered. Focusing on the SU(n > 2) generalizations of ferromagnetism, it is shown within mean-field theory that the transition from the paramagnet to the itinerant ferromagnet is generically first order. On symmetry grounds, general SU(n) itinerant ferromagnetic ground states and their topological excitations are also discussed. These SU(n > 2) ferromagnets can become stable by increasing the scattering length using optical methods or in an optical lattice. However, in an optical lattice at current experimental temperatures, Mott states with different filling are expected to coexist in the same trap, as obtained from a calculation based on the SU(6) Hubbard model.