Static structure factor of a strongly correlated Fermi gas at large momenta

We theoretically investigate the static structure factor of an interacting Fermi gas near the BEC-BCS crossover at large momenta. Due to short-range two-body interactions, we show that the structure factor of unlike spin correlations S up down arrow(q) falls off as 1/q in a universal scaling region with large momentum (h) over barq and large scattering length. The scaling coefficient is determined by the celebrated Tan's contact parameter, which links the short-range behavior of many-body systems to their universal thermodynamic properties. By implementing this structure-factor Tan relation together with the random-phase approximation and the virial expansion theory in various limiting cases, we show how to calculate S up down arrow(q) at zero and finite temperatures for arbitrary interaction strengths, at momentum transfer higher than the Fermi momentum. Our results provide a way to experimentally confirm one of the Tan relations and to accurately measure the value of contact parameter. Copyright (C) EPLA, 2010