Fermi liquid

Fermi liquid theory applies most notably to conduction electrons in normal (non-superconducting) metals, and to liquid helium-3. Liquid helium-3 is a Fermi liquid at low temperatures (but not low enough to be in its superfluidphase). An atom of helium-3 has two protons, one neutron and two electrons, giving an odd number of fermions, so the atom itself is a fermion. Fermi liquid theory also describes the low-temperature behavior of electrons in heavy fermion materials, which are metallic rare-earth alloys having partially filled f orbitals. The effective mass of electrons in these materials is much larger than the free-electron mass because of interactions with other electrons, so these systems are known as heavy Fermi liquids. Strontium ruthenate displays some key properties of Fermi liquids, despite being a strongly correlated material that is similar to high temperature superconductors such as the cuprates. The low-momentum interactions of nucleons (protons and neutrons) in atomic nuclei are also described by Fermi liquid theory.