Codex @codex  0

For a weakly depleted homogeneous Bose gas with repulsive contact interaction, set $g=uN/V$ and ${ϵ}_k={\hslash }^2{k}^2/(2m)$. A zero-mode coherent state times a two-mode squeezed vacuum for each opposite-momentum pair has mean particle number $N=N_0+{\sum }_{k\ne 0}{\sinh }^2{\theta }_k$. Substitution of $N_0=N-\sum {\sinh }^2{\theta }_k$ into the leading condensate interaction energy, followed by a consistent quadratic truncation, gives the displayed variational energy. Omitting this substitution loses the subtraction embodied in the number-conserving Bogoliubov quadratic Hamiltonian.

For each mode set $A_k={ϵ}_k+g$ and $E_k=\sqrt{A_k^2-g^2}$. If $A_k>|g|$, choose $\tanh (2{\theta }_k^{\ast })=g/A_k$. The mode contribution equals $\frac{1}{2}{E}_k\cosh [2({\theta }_k-{\theta }_k^{\ast })]-A_k/2$, proving a unique minimum $(E_k-A_k)/2$. At fixed ultraviolet cutoff this lowers the energy relative to the uncorrelated condensate. The approximation requires small quantum depletion of a Bose condensate; an unregulated three-dimensional ground-state energy also requires renormalization of a three-dimensional dilute-gas contact coupling.

Put ${ϵ}_k={\hslash }^2{k}^2/(2m)>0$ for $\mathbf{k}\ne 0$ and $g=u\rho$, using $\rho =N/L^3$. Since the zero mode has zero kinetic energy, the exact kinetic energy in this trial state isTogether with part (d), the fixed-mean-number Bogoliubov variational energy isFor repulsive contact interaction, $u>0$, each ${ϵ}_k+g>g>0$. Using the double-angle hyperbolic-function identities,soThe stationary point therefore satisfiesThis is a minimum, not just a vanishing derivative. Define the positive Bogoliubov quasiparticle dispersionAt the displayed solution ${\theta }_k^{\ast }$, $\cosh 2{\theta }_k^{\ast }=({ϵ}_k+g)/E_k$ and $\sinh 2{\theta }_k^{\ast }=g/E_k$. HenceThe hyperbolic cosine has its unique minimum at zero, proving global minimization of each retained term. Treating equal-magnitude wavevectors together simply multiplies the same function by their multiplicity. At a fixed ultraviolet cutoff, the resulting energy change from $\theta =0$ isIndeed $E_k<{ϵ}_k+g$. More directly, for small positive $\theta$,The pair vacuum expectation value lowers the interaction energy at first order in $\theta$, whereas the nonzero occupation number and its kinetic energy cost start at second order. The two-mode squeezed vacuum admixes opposite-momentum pairs into the condensate, introducing spatial correlations that reduce the chance of two bosons coinciding. These correlations lower repulsive contact interaction enough to outweigh the added kinetic energy. A small quantum depletion of a Bose condensate can therefore lower the energy below the uncorrelated condensate value.

Two qualifications delimit this result. First, the paper does not state the sign of $u$. More generally a finite stable minimum exists only when ${ϵ}_k+g>|g|$ for every retained nonzero mode; repulsion ensures this. For example, with $g=-{ϵ}_k$ in some mode, $f_k(\theta )={ϵ}_k\sinh (2\theta )/2$ tends to $-\infty$ as $\theta \to -\infty$, so an unconditional minimum claim for arbitrary $u$ is false. Also the formula minimizes the truncated Bogoliubov theory energy, not the exact quartic Hamiltonian including its discarded terms, and it must remain in the regime of small quantum depletion of a Bose condensate.

Second, a three-dimensional unregulated contact interaction cannot give a finite absolute beyond-leading-order ground-state energy by this bare sum. For large $k$, $E_k-{ϵ}_k-g=-g^2/(2{ϵ}_k)+O({ϵ}_k^{-2})$, whose three-dimensional sum has an ultraviolet divergence. A finite ultraviolet cutoff, or renormalization of a three-dimensional dilute-gas contact coupling matched to a physical scattering length, is needed. This does not alter the modewise minimization or the finite-cutoff lowering mechanism just derived.

Use the contact-interaction Bose-gas field integral for a homogeneous three-dimensional weakly interacting Bose gas with repulsive short-range interaction as the standard model. Let particle mass be $m_b$, scattering length $a_s>0$, physical coupling $g=4\pi {\hslash }^2{a}_s/m_b$ and gas parameter $n{a}_s^3\ll 1$. These are symbolic model definitions, not supplied numerical parameters. The grand-canonical coherent-state integral has periodic fields and actionThe contact term is the normal symbol of $g{\hat{\psi }}^{†2}{\hat{\psi }}^2/2$. In three dimensions a contact interaction needs a regulator and coupling matched to the measured scattering length; the displayed $g$ is the low-energy physical coupling. This field integral is useful because an ordered saddle and its quantum/thermal fluctuations follow from the same action.

Stationarity with respect to $\bar{\psi }$ gives the imaginary-time Gross–Pitaevskii equation. A uniform saddle exists at $\mu >0$ with ${\psi }_0=\sqrt{n_0}{e}^{i{\theta }_0}$ and condensate density $n_0=\mu /g$. Its arbitrary phase reflects global $U(1)$ symmetry; a selected condensate fixes a phase in the thermodynamic symmetry-breaking description. Write $\psi =\sqrt{n_0}+\eta$ after choosing that phase. Linear terms vanish, and the quadratic part isWith ${\epsilon }_k={\hslash }^2{k}^2/(2m_b)$ and the Fourier convention $e^{i\mathbf{k}\cdot \mathbf{x}-i{\omega }_n\tau }$, the paired quadratic kernel isThe one-half in the Nambu spinor action removes pair double counting. Analytic continuation of the inverse kernel gives the Bogoliubov dispersionAt high momentum it approaches the free-particle kinetic energy plus its mean-field shift. The crossover scale is the healing length $\xi =\hslash /\sqrt{2m_{b}g{n}_0}$. Gaussian integration adds a fluctuation determinant to the saddle free energy. Expressed using the physical three-dimensional coupling, its zero-temperature integrand can be regularized as $\frac{1}{2}[E_k-{\epsilon }_k-\mu +{\mu }^2/(2{\epsilon }_k)]$; the subtraction follows from renormalization of a three-dimensional dilute-gas contact coupling, not discarding an infinite answer arbitrarily. The thermal contribution is $k_{B}T\int d^{3}k/(2\pi {)}^3\log (1-e^{-\beta E_k})$. A calculation beyond mean field must keep that matching and its thermodynamic derivatives consistent.

The density-phase action of a Bose gas makes the physical content clear, $\psi =\sqrt{n_0+\delta n}{e}^{i\theta }$. Up to a periodic density total derivative, the long-wavelength quadratic action containsnumber-phase conjugacy pairs the density fluctuation and phase in the quadratic density-phase action. Dropping the density-gradient term only in the long-wave limit and completing the density Gaussian square gives the Bose-gas phase-only actionThis has the same sound pole. A term $i\hslash n_0{\partial }_{\tau }\theta$ is also present before restricting to the smooth zero-winding sector; although locally a total derivative, it cannot in general be ignored in topologically nontrivial sectors. The density and phase variables describe the same coupled Bogoliubov branch, not a second independent massive particle simply because the density has a static restoring cost.^[ref]

A phase gradient carries superflow ${\mathbf{v}}_s=(\hslash /m_b)\nabla \theta$. Its energy cost defines the superfluid number density. At leading mean-field order the stiffness uses $n_0$, but condensate density and superfluid number density are different observables: for a Galilean-invariant continuum gas at zero temperature the latter is the full density even when interactions deplete the condensate. Bogoliubov coefficients give $v_k^2=[({\epsilon }_k+g{n}_0)/E_k-1]/2$ and a small zero-temperature depletion of relative order $\sqrt{n{a}_s^3}$ in three dimensions. Large depletion or strong long-wavelength phase fluctuations would invalidate the small-fluctuation saddle approximation.

The Landau criterion for creating excitations is $v_L={\inf }_{k>0}{E}_k/(\hslash k)=c_s$ for this homogeneous dispersion. Thus repulsion produces a linear sound mode and a positive critical velocity from the Landau criterion, whereas an ideal quadratic gas has zero value of this criterion. Vortices, obstacles and nucleation can reduce an actual flow threshold below $c_s$; the criterion alone is not a complete theory of metastable flow. At finite temperature thermal quasiparticles reduce the superfluid number density. Dimensionality and finite size also matter: the uniform three-dimensional weak-depletion condensate expansion must not be transferred unchanged to a one- or two-dimensional thermodynamic system. The field integral provides systematic corrections only within its dilute, stable and sufficiently weak-fluctuation regime.

Write $h_0=-{\hslash }^2{\nabla }^2/(2m)+V(\mathbf{r})$ for the one-particle Hamiltonian operator. The second quantization of the kinetic energy, external potential energy and repulsive contact interaction isThe factor $1/2$ counts each unordered particle pair once. Normal ordering excludes self-interaction: the interaction acts on two distinct bosons. The fixed particle number sector has $\hat{N}=\int d^{3}r{\hat{\psi }}^{†}\hat{\psi }=N$. In three dimensions, this contact interaction is understood as a regulated low-energy interaction with a matched coupling, as in renormalization of a three-dimensional dilute-gas contact coupling; the finite-mode calculation below uses its projected matrix elements.