3 N ov 2 00 6 Sarma Phase in Trapped Unbalanced Fermi Gases

We consider a trapped unbalanced Fermi gas at nonzero temperatures where the superfluid Sarma phase is stable. We determine in particular the phase boundaries between the superfluid, normal, and phase-separated regions of the trapped unbalanced Fermi mixture. We show that the physics of the Sarma phase is sufficient to understand the recent observations of Zwierlein et al. [Science 311, 492 (2006); Nature 442, 54 (2006)] and indicate how the apparent contradictions between this experiment and the experiment of Partridge et al. [Science 311, 503 (2006)] may be resolved.