Bose-Einstein condensation

Bose-Einstein condensation is the macroscopic occupation of the lowest one-particle state by bosons below a critical temperature.

A Bose-Einstein condensate is a state with macroscopic occupation of a one-particle mode. A phase-selected mean-field description can use $⟨\psi ⟩\ne 0$, while a fixed-number finite-volume state need not have a nonzero field expectation. Bose-Einstein condensation and superfluidity are related but distinct notions; long-wavelength phase fluctuations can invalidate a uniform condensate saddle in low dimensions.

A dilute condensed Bose system whose interaction is sufficiently weak for a small-depletion expansion. Its low-energy excitations are described by a Bogoliubov transformation rather than free particles. The homogeneous quadratic theory is controlled only while noncondensate occupation remains small compared with the condensate and its excitation energies are stable.

In units $\hslash =1$, polar fields rewrite the coherent-state action asafter removing the periodic total density derivative. The potential has positive-density minimum ${\rho }_0=\mu /g$ for $\mu >0$. Density curvature gives a finite static amplitude cost, while phase changes cost only derivatives. Number-phase conjugacy couples their dynamics; the two fields do not automatically represent two independent excitation branches.

Expand the density-phase action of a Bose gas around ${\rho }_0=\mu /g>0$ and a constant phase. Density and phase are coupled by $i\delta \rho {\partial }_{\tau }\varphi$, and retaining density gradients gives the full quadratic Bogoliubov spectrum. Dropping those gradients is a long-wavelength approximation. A small-fluctuation Gaussian extension around ${\rho }_0$ does not exactly remove the original nonnegative-density constraint.

In the smooth zero-winding long-wave sector, integrate the density Gaussian integral by completing $g(\delta \rho +i{\partial }_{\tau }\varphi /g{)}^2/2$. Its field-independent normalization leaves the displayed action. The real-frequency pole is ${\omega }^2=g{\rho }_0{k}^2/m$, so the phonon speed is $\sqrt{g{\rho }_0/m}$. Keeping density gradients yields ${\omega }^2=g{\rho }_0{k}^2/m+k^4/(4m^2)$, matching the Bogoliubov spectrum.

A periodic complex field permits $\varphi (\beta ,\mathbf{r})-\varphi (0,\mathbf{r})=2\pi w(\mathbf{r})$. Its uniform-density first-order term is therefore a winding-dependent imaginary action, not generally a removable global constant. It vanishes in the smooth zero-winding sector used for Gaussian phonons. Density defects and vortices require more than that smooth-sector approximation.

Conservation of particle number corresponds to global circle group phase rotations of a nonrelativistic Bose field. A positive-density uniform mean-field saddle chooses a phase, with degenerate saddle manifold a circle. The associated Goldstone boson is the long-wavelength phase mode. This is a thermodynamic symmetry-selection statement; an exact finite-volume number eigenstate does not itself choose a phase.

The quasiparticle vacuum contains physical particles at nonzero momentum because the Bogoliubov transformation mixes creation and annihilation operators. Their occupation is $v_k^2=(A_k/E_k-1)/2$, and the depletion density is its momentum sum divided by the volume. At nonzero temperature an additional $(A_k/E_k)n_B(E_k)$ contribution is required; quantum depletion alone is a zero-temperature expression.

The stable quadratic spectrum is $E_k=\sqrt{{ϵ}_k({ϵ}_k+2n{V}_k)}$. If $V_k\to V_0>0$, its low-momentum form is $\hslash |k|\sqrt{n{V}_0/m}$, a linear sound branch. For contact repulsion the healing length separates the phonon and particle regimes. General momentum-dependent interactions can change the higher-energy shape.

At fixed total particle number, $N_0=N-{\sum }_{k\ne 0}{b}_k^{†}{b}_k$. Expanding the condensate interaction energy subtracts $n{V}_0$ from the normal excited-particle coefficient, cancelling its direct Hartree term. The resulting quadratic coefficients are $A_k={ϵ}_k+n{V}_k$ and $B_k=n{V}_k$, with an opposite-momentum anomalous pair term. Replacing $N_0$ by $N$ before making this correction loses the cancellation.

An exciton-polariton condensate has coherent macroscopic occupation of an exciton–photon hybrid mode. Finite photon lifetime makes it an open system: pumping a noncondensed reservoir can replenish condensate losses. A condensate equation coupled to a reservoir-rate equation describes gain saturation, interaction shifts and reservoir feedback; it need not possess a conserved Hamiltonian.

For the cubic complex Ginzburg–Landau equation with $\alpha ,\beta >0$, $\Psi =\sqrt{\alpha /\beta }{e}^{-i\mu t}$ is spatially uniform, with $\mu =g\alpha /\beta -s$. In the reservoir reduction of a polariton condensate, its pump threshold is $P_{\mathrm{th}}={\gamma }_C{\gamma }_R/R_R$ and its number density is $({\gamma }_R/R_R)(1-P_{\mathrm{th}}/P)$. The full two-field homogeneous model instead gives $(P-P_{\mathrm{th}})/{\gamma }_C$. These agree near threshold only to the expansion's accuracy. Existence of the homogeneous solution does not imply stability for arbitrary interaction coefficients.

For reservoir kinetics ${\mathcal{R}}_t=-({\gamma }_R+R_{R}n)\mathcal{R}+P$, adiabatic elimination gives $\mathcal{R}=P/({\gamma }_R+R_{R}n)$. Expanding for $R_{R}n/{\gamma }_R\ll 1$ and inserting into the condensate equation gives a complex Ginzburg–Landau equation withFast reservoir response and weak depletion are separate assumptions. Without the number density expansion the gain is saturable, not cubic. The coefficients depend on position when the pump does.

The Gross–Pitaevskii equation describes a dilute interacting condensate through a complex order parameter $\psi$, normalized so that $|\psi {|}^2$ is number density. Repulsive contact interactions have $g>0$. In a frame rotating at the condensate frequency, the operator includes $-\mu$, with chemical potential $\mu$. It is generated by a Hamiltonian functional; its homogeneous positive-density state has $n_0=\mu /g$ when $g,\mu >0$.

For $i{\psi }_t=-D{\nabla }^2\psi +[V(n)+i\Gamma (n)]\psi$, with real $D,V,\Gamma$ and $\psi =\sqrt{n}{e}^{iS}$, the continuity equation isMultiply the equation by ${\psi }^{\ast }$ and subtract its complex conjugate multiplied by $\psi$ to obtain this identity; real interaction and potential terms cancel. Thus the current velocity is $\mathbf{j}/n=2D\nabla S$. With dimensional kinetic operator $-{\hslash }^2{\nabla }^2/(2m)$ and left side $i\hslash {\psi }_t$, this gives the physical superfluid velocity $(\hslash /m)\nabla S$. In normalized equations with $D=1/2$ or $D=1$, the current velocity is respectively $\nabla S$ or $2\nabla S$. The distinction fixes the radial-flow slope of a driven quantum vortex.

Neglecting density-gradient kinetic energy in the stationary Gross–Pitaevskii equation gives $n=(\mu -V{)}_{+}/g$ for repulsive interactions. For a radial harmonic trap $V=m{\omega }_r^2{r}^2/2$, this is $n=n_0(1-r^2/R_r^2{)}_{+}$ with $R_r=\sqrt{2g{n}_0/(m{\omega }_r^2)}$. Hard boundaries can truncate this natural support. The approximation fails in vortex cores and boundary healing regions and requires a cloud much larger than its healing length.

For the normalized conservative equation $-2i{\psi }_t={\nabla }^2\psi +(1-|\psi {|}^2)\psi$, a localized disturbance translating at speed $v$ obeys ${\nabla }^2\psi +(1-|\psi {|}^2)\psi -2iv{\psi }_x=0$ in translating coordinates. Its complex-field boundary is $\psi \to 1$. This permits zero-net-winding vortex pairs, but excludes a lone quantum vortex. The usual subsonic far field has $\psi -1=O(r^{-1})$ in two dimensions.

With $E=\frac{1}{2}\int [|\nabla \psi {|}^2+\frac{1}{2}(1-|\psi {|}^2{)}^2]$ and the renormalized momentum of a condensate, a Gross–Pitaevskii solitary wave is a critical point of $E-v{p}_x$. Along a differentiable solution family, fixed bulk normalization and vanishing variation boundary terms give $dE/d\lambda =vd{p}_x/d\lambda$. Therefore $dE/d{p}_x=v$ wherever $d{p}_x/d\lambda \ne 0$. At a cusp or turning point the parametrized identity is the appropriate statement; one must not assume a globally single-valued dispersion branch.

For a condensate with uniform bulk complex field one, its convergent localized momentum isThe subtraction removes the uniform-background phase-gradient contribution. If $\psi -1=O(r^{-1})$ and $\nabla \psi =O(r^{-2})$, its integrand is $O(r^{-3})$, integrable in two dimensions. Under decaying variations its functional derivative is $\delta p_j/\delta {\psi }^{\ast }=-i{\partial }_j\psi$; the subtraction is a boundary correction and does not change the bulk equation.

The healing length of a repulsive homogeneous condensate is the length at which density-gradient kinetic energy and interaction energy balance. The displayed convention sets the dimensionless Laplacian coefficient to one in the stationary Gross–Pitaevskii equation. A hard-wall number density profile has width $\sqrt{2}{\ell }_h$; definitions without the factor $\sqrt{2}$ occur, so the equation and convention must be specified.

A repulsive condensate next to an impenetrable planar wall has Dirichlet boundary condition $\psi (0)=0$. Writing $\psi =\sqrt{n_0}f$ reduces its stationary Gross–Pitaevskii equation to ${\ell }_h^2{f}^{\prime \prime }+(1-f^2)f=0$. The bulk conditions $f\to 1,f^{\prime }\to 0$ give ${\ell }_h^2(f^{\prime }{)}^2=(1-f^2{)}^2/2$ and hence the displayed number density. Omitting $n_0$ describes normalized number density, not dimensional number density.

The critical temperature is the temperature at which the excited states of a Bose system are just saturated as the chemical potential approaches the lowest one-particle energy. Cooling below it puts the excess particles into the condensate.