Interior gap superfluidity in a two-component Fermi gas of atoms

A new superfluid phase in Fermi matter, termed as "interior gap" (IG) or "breached pair", has been recently predicted by Liu and Wilczek [Phys.Rev.Lett. {\bf 90}, 047002 (2003)]. This results from pairing between fermions of two species having essentially different Fermi surfaces. Using a nonperturbative variational approach, we analyze the features, such as energy gap, momentum distributions, and elementary excitations associated with the predicted phase. We discuss possible realization of this phase in two-component Fermi gases in an optical trap.