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arXiv:2312.07481 · The Annals of Applied Probability

Off-diagonal long-range order for the free Bose gas via the Feynman–Kac formula

Wolfgang König, Quirin Vogel, Alexander Zass

Published Nov 24, 2025• 0 citations
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Abstract

We consider the path-integral representation of the ideal Bose gas under various boundary conditions. We show that Bose–Einstein condensation occurs at the famous critical density threshold, by proving that its 1-particle-reduced density matrix exhibits off-diagonal long-range order above that threshold, but not below. Our proofs are based on the well-known Feynman–Kac formula and a representation in terms of a crucial Poisson point process. Furthermore, in the condensation regime, we derive a law of large numbers with strong concentration for the number of particles in short loops. In contrast to the situation for free boundary conditions, where the entire condensate sits in just one loop, for all other boundary conditions we obtain the limiting Poisson–Dirichlet distribution for the collection of the lengths of all long loops. Our proofs are new and purely probabilistic (apart from a standard eigenvalue expansion), using elementary tools like Markov’s inequality, Poisson point processes, combinatorial formulas for cardinalities of particular partition sets, and asymptotics for random walks with Pareto-distributed steps.

DOI
10.1214/25-aap2213

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We consider the path-integral representation of the ideal Bose gas under various boundary conditions. We show that Bose–Einstein condensation occurs at the famous critical density threshold, by proving that its 1-particle-reduced density matrix exhibits off-diagonal long-range order above that threshold, but not below. Our proofs are based on the well-known Feynman–Kac formula and a representation in terms of a crucial Poisson point process. Furthermore, in the condensation regime, we derive a law of large numbers with strong concentration for the number of particles in short loops. In contrast to the situation for free boundary conditions, where the entire condensate sits in just one loop, for all other boundary conditions we obtain the limiting Poisson–Dirichlet distribution for the collection of the lengths of all long loops. Our proofs are new and purely probabilistic (apart from a standard eigenvalue expansion), using elementary tools like Markov’s inequality, Poisson point processes, combinatorial formulas for cardinalities of particular partition sets, and asymptotics for random walks with Pareto-distributed steps.
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We discuss the relationship between the cycle probabilities in the path-integral representation of the ideal Bose gas, off-diagonal long-range order, and Bose-Einstein condensation. Starting from the Landsberg recursion relation for the canonic partition function, we use elementary considerations to show that in a box of size L3 the sum of the cycle probabilities of length k>>L2 equals the off-diagonal long-range order parameter in the thermodynamic limit. For arbitrary systems of ideal bosons, the integer derivative of the cycle probabilities is related to the probability of condensing k bosons. We use this relation to derive the precise form of the pik in the thermodynamic limit. We also determine the function pik for arbitrary systems. Furthermore, we use the cycle probabilities to compute the probability distribution of the maximum-length cycles both at T=0, where the ideal Bose gas reduces to the study of random permutations, and at finite temperature. We close with comments on the cycle probabilities in interacting Bose gases.
It is shown for boson systems with periodic boundary conditions that the existence of generalized Bose condensation, of which the simple type typified by the ideal Bose gas is a special case, is equivalent to the existence of off-diagonal long-range order (ODLRO) in the single-particle density matrix ρ1 provided that the two noncomuting limits involved in the criterion for ODLRO are taken in the proper order: first size of system → ∞, then interparticle separation → ∞. It is shown by means of an example that certain assumptions concerning the behavior of the single-particle momentum distribution function involved in proving this equivalence are actually satisfied in thermal equilibrium for some dynamical models. The analysis is generalized to box-enclosure boundary conditions by an extension of an argument due to Schafroth, according to which box-enclosure conditions are equivalent to homogeneous Neumann conditions except for a thermodynamically negligible surface effect, provided that one second-quantizes with respect to Hartree-Fock orbitals rather than free-particle orbitals. A general criterion for generalized Bose condensation in terms of eigenvalues of ρ1 is proposed. On the basis of the behavior of soluble models it is conjectured that for a boson system in thermal equilibrium subject to arbitrary boundary conditions, the existence of such Bose condensation is equivalent to the existence of ODLRO in ρ1. The two-particle density matrix ρ2 is discussed briefly. By means of a simplified model it is shown that for a Bose system generalized condensation implies large eigenvalues of ρ2 and ODLRO of ρ2, just as for ρ1. It is pointed out that the question of the existence or nonexistence of generalized Bose condensation of fermion pairs ought to be investigated.
We present a rigorous study of the perfect Bose-gas in the presence of a homogeneous ergodic random potential. It is demonstrated that the Lifshitz tail behaviour of the one-particle spectrum reduces the critical dimensionality of the (generalized) Bose–Einstein Condensation (BEC) to d =1. To tackle the Off-Diagonal Long-Range Order (ODLRO) we introduce the space average one-body reduced density matrix. For a one-dimensional Poisson-type random potential we prove that randomness enhances the exponential decay of this matrix in domain free of the BEC.
We present a rigorous study of the Bose-Einstein condensation in the Luttinger-Sy model. We prove the existence of the condensation in this one-dimensional model of the perfect boson gas placed in the Poisson random potential of singular point impurities. To tackle the off-diagonal long-range order we calculate explicitly the corresponding space-averaged one-body reduced density matrix. We show that mathematical mechanism of the Bose-Einstein condensation in this random model is similar to condensation in a one-dimensional nonrandom hierarchical model of scaled intervals. For the Luttinger-Sy model we prove the Kac-Luttinger conjecture, i.e., that this model manifests a type I BEC localized in a single "largest" interval of logarithmic size.