Henk Stoof  
Insitute for Theoretical Physics,  Utrecht University

Achieving the Néel state in an optical lattice

   We theoretically study the possibility of reaching the antiferromagnetic state by starting from a

normal gas of trapped fermionic atoms and adiabatically ramping up an optical lattice. Requirements on the initial temperature and the number of atoms are determined, while taking into account fluctuations around the mean-field solution. We find that these fluctuations place important limitations on adiabatically reaching the Néel state.