  We investigate the stability of the Sarma phase in two-component fermion
systems in three spatial dimensions. For this purpose we compare
strongly-correlated systems with either relativistic or non-relativistic
dispersion relation: relativistic quarks and mesons at finite isospin density
and spin-imbalanced ultracold Fermi gases. Using a Functional Renormalization
Group approach, we resolve fluctuation effects onto the corresponding phase
diagrams beyond the mean-field approximation. We find that fluctuations induce
a second order phase transition at zero temperature, and thus a Sarma phase, in
the relativistic setup for large isospin chemical potential. This motivates the
investigation of the cold atoms setup with comparable mean-field phase
structure, where the Sarma phase could then be realized in experiment. However,
for the non-relativistic system we find the stability region of the Sarma phase
to be smaller than the one predicted from mean-field theory. It is limited to
the BEC side of the phase diagram, and the unitary Fermi gas does not support a
Sarma phase at zero temperature. Finally, we propose an ultracold quantum gas
with four fermion species that has a good chance to realize a zero-temperature
Sarma phase.
