  We propose a new method of detecting the onset of superfluidity in a
two-component ultracold fermionic gas of atoms governed by an attractive
short-range interaction. By studying the two-body correlation functions we find
that a measurement of the momentum distribution of the density and spin
response functions allows one to access separately the normal and anomalous
densities. The change in sign at low momentum transfer of the density response
function signals the transition between a BEC and a BCS regimes, characterized
by small and large pairs, respectively. This change in sign of the density
response function represents an unambiguous signature of the BEC to BCS
crossover. Also, we predict spin rotational symmetry-breaking in this system.
