Condensation of bosons in Bose-Einstein condensates or Cooper pairs in superconductors refers to a macroscopic occupation of a few single- or two-particle states. A condensate is called "fragmented" if not a single, but multiple states are macroscopically occupied. While fragmentation is known to occur in particular Bose-Einstein condensates, we propose that fragmentation naturally takes place in striped superconductors. To this end, we investigate the nature of the superconducting ground state realized in the two-dimensional t-t^{'}-J model. In the presence of charge density modulations, the condensate is shown to be fragmented and composed of partial condensates located on the stripes. The fragments of the condensates hybridize to form an extended macroscopic wave function across the system. The results are obtained from evaluating the singlet-pairing two-particle density matrix of the ground state on finite cylinders computed via the density matrix renormalization group method. Our results shed light on the intricate relation between stripe order and superconductivity in systems of strongly correlated electrons.
Condensation of bosons in Bose-Einstein condensates or Cooper pairs in superconductors refers to a macroscopic occupation of a few single- or two-particle states. A condensate is called "fragmented" if not a single, but multiple states are macroscopically occupied. While fragmentation is known to occur in particular Bose-Einstein condensates, we propose that fragmentation naturally takes place in striped superconductors. To this end, we investigate the nature of the superconducting ground state realized in the two-dimensional t-t^{'}-J model. In the presence of charge density modulations, the condensate is shown to be fragmented and composed of partial condensates located on the stripes. The fragments of the condensates hybridize to form an extended macroscopic wave function across the system. The results are obtained from evaluating the singlet-pairing two-particle density matrix of the ground state on finite cylinders computed via the density matrix renormalization group method. Our results shed light on the intricate relation between stripe order and superconductivity in systems of strongly correlated electrons.
Identifying superconducting states of matter without prior assumptions is a central challenge in strongly correlated electron systems. We introduce a canonical framework for diagnosing the formation of Cooper pair condensates based on the Penrose–Onsager criterion, in which superconducting order is encoded in the spectral properties of the two-particle reduced density matrix (2RDM). Within this formulation, the symmetry and structure of the condensate are obtained by projecting the 2RDM onto irreducible representations of the underlying symmetry group, enabling an unbiased identification of both conventional and exotic superconducting states. We demonstrate the power and versatility of the approach through applications to the two-dimensional Hubbard model, using both auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo (AFQMC) and the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG). For attractive interactions without a magnetic field, we reveal a clear finite-size scaling of the condensate fraction on square lattices of size up to 20 × 20 . The framework further provides direct access to the internal structure and extent of Cooper pairs, which we track across the BCS–BEC crossover. Moreover, it enables a clean diagnosis of the finite-momentum Fulde–Ferrell–Larkin–Ovchinnikov (FFLO) phase in a magnetic field. Finally, we apply the approach to a supersolid phase in the repulsive Hubbard model with an additional next-nearest-neighbor hopping t ′ , where a charge-density wave coexists with superconductivity. We confirm the fragmented nature of the condensate and uncover substantial pairing correlations in the triplet channel with p -wave spatial symmetry in addition to the dominant singlet d -wave pairing. Our results establish the 2RDM-based Penrose–Onsager framework as a broadly applicable and unbiased tool for characterizing superconducting order in correlated quantum matter.
As we all know, single microscopic particles such as electrons or atoms do not behave according to the familiar classical (Newtonian) physics which describes the everyday world, but rather according to the prescriptions of quantum mechanics, the outcome is often bizarre and counterintuitive. When a macroscopic number of such particles (say ∼ 10) is assembled under conditions where the effects of quantum mechanics are important, the results can be even more spectacular; they include macroscopic phenomena such as superfluidity and superconductivity, which are completely impossible to explain in classical terms. Most, though not all of these exotic phenomena, are a result of a phenomenon which I shall refer to generically as “quantum condensation,” in which a macroscopic number of particles or pairs of particles—a nonzero fraction of all particles present—occupy a single quantum state; this phenomenon is traditionally referred to as Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) when it occurs in a system of bosons such as liquid He, and as Cooper pairing when it occurs, for pairs of particles, in a system of fermions such as the electrons in a superconducting metal. As a result of quantum condensation, the characteristically quantum-mechanical behavior which we are used to seeing at the level of single electrons is as it were amplified by the cooperation of condensed particles and can manifest itself at the macroscopic level. The present essay is intended as a general introduction to the subject of quantum condensation and its consequences, as manifested in a variety of physical systems. I will try to review the fundamental physical ideas, usually without de-
Light-mass bipolarons in off-diagonally coupled electron-phonon systems provide a potential route to bipolaronic high-Tc superconductivity. While there has been numerical progress in the physically relevant limit of slow phonons, more insights are needed to fully understand to what extent this mechanism survives at finite densities and in different regimes. We address these questions using advanced tensor-network methods applied to the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model. Studying both the spectral properties of isolated bipolarons as well as the pairing correlations at small finite densities, we find evidence that the conventional picture of bipolarons as molecular bound states which undergo Bose-Einstein condensation may need to be reconsidered. Instead, our findings suggest correlation-driven formation of a fragmented condensate with spatially separated polaron pairs, stabilized by strong repulsive electron-electron interactions at moderate values of the electron-phonon coupling. These spatially modulated charge clouds exhibit pairing with a typical length-scale set by the Fermi momentum.
Recently it has been predicted that if a gas of spin-1/2 bosonic atoms is cooled down while conserving its total spin, it can form a Bose-Einstein condensate in a new type of fragmented state. In that fragmented state two orbital wave functions are macroscopically occupied. We derive a set of Gross-Pitaevskii equations that describe the two occupied wave functions, taking into account the effects of interatomic interactions. We then analyze the solutions of those equations in some special cases. In particular, we find that if the fragmented state is realized in a toroidal trap, under certain conditions the system will spontaneously acquire macroscopic orbital angular momentum. Finally, we discuss the nature of the phase transition from an uncondensed gas to a fragmented-state condensate.
Bose-Einstein condensation, superfluidity, and superconductivity are quantum mechanics made visible. They mark the boundary between the classical and the quantum worlds, and they show the macroscopic role of quantum mechanics in condensed matter. This book presents these phenomena in terms of particles, their positions, and their momenta, giving a concrete visualisation and description that is not possible with traditional wave functions. A single approach that bridges the classical-quantum divide provides new insight into the role of particle interactions in condensation, the nature of collisions in superfluid flow, and the physical form of Cooper pairs in high-temperature superconductors. High-temperature superconductivity is explored with quantum statistical mechanics, which links it to Bose-Einstein condensation. Identifying a new mechanism for Cooper pairing, this explains the differences between the low- and high-temperature superconducting regimes and the role of the molecular structure of the conductor. The new perspective offered by this book on Bose-Einstein condensation, superfluidity, and high-temperature superconductivity gives particle-based explanations as well as mathematical and computational methods for these macroscopic quantum phenomena so that readers understand the role of particle interactions and structure in the physics of these phenomena. This book will appeal to undergraduate and graduate students, lecturers, academics, and scientific researchers in the fields of Bose-Einstein condensation and condensates, superfluidity, and superconductivity. It will also be of interest to those working with thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, statistical physics, quantum mechanics, molecular dynamics, materials science, condensed matter physics, and theoretical chemistry. Key Features: · Explores Bose-Einstein condensation with new evidence for multiple condensed states and novel Monte Carlo simulations for interacting bosons · Establishes the thermodynamic nature of condensed bosons from an analysis of fountain pressure measurements, including that they carry energy and entropy, and the thermodynamic principle of superfluid flow · Derives equations of motion for condensed bosons, and performs molecular dynamics simulations of the viscosity with molecular trajectories that give rise to superfluidity · Identifies the mechanism for electron pairing in high-temperature superconductivity
Abstract Fragmented Bose–Einstein condensates are large systems of identical bosons displaying multiple macroscopic occupations of one-body states, in a suitable sense. The quest for an effective dynamics of the fragmented condensate at the leading order in the number of particles, in analogy to the much more controlled scenario for complete condensation in one single state, is deceptive both because characterising fragmentation solely in terms of reduced density matrices is unsatisfactory and ambiguous, and because as soon as the time evolution starts the rank of the reduced marginals generically passes from finite to infinite, which is a signature of a transfer of occupations on infinitely many more one-body states. In this work we review these difficulties, we refine previous characterisations of fragmented condensates in terms of marginals, and we provide a quantitative rate of convergence to the leading effective dynamics in the double limit of infinitely many particles and infinite energy gap.