Consider a neutral, isotropic, unpolarized three-dimensional spin-one-half Fermi liquid, with only nonzero. A longitudinal density wave with angular frequency and wavevector magnitude has . The collisionless angular equation for the energy displacement of the Fermi surface is
Averaging gives
The bracket decreases from infinity to zero on : each gives one undamped root above the small- particle-hole continuum.[ref]
For an original example, gives . Since here, the Principle of Galilean relativity gives and taking the hydrodynamic limit before gives . Stipulating gives and . These are model choices, not helium-3 measurements. At large , expanding the logarithm gives ; for small positive , the root approaches exponentially closely, so numerical resolution matters. A charged Electron liquid needs its long-range interaction included; this neutral model is not its long-wavelength density mode.
Figure 1.
Collisionless zero-sound root and the first-sound collision condition
. Original three-dimensional -only model. Zero sound and first sound speeds refer to their respective limits, rather than two simultaneous solutions at a fixed collision rate. The lower panel stipulates at fixed angular frequency; its crossover is not measured helium-3 data. Details.