Detection of the BCS transition of a trapped Fermi Gas

We investigate theoretically the properties of a trapped gas of fermionic atoms in both the normal and the superfluid phases. Our analysis, which accounts for the shell structure of the normal phase spectrum, identifies two observables which are sensitive to the presence of the superfluid: the response of the gas to a modulation of the trapping frequency, and the heat capacity. Our results are discussed in the context of experiments on trapped Fermi gases.