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arXiv:2608.13402

Proper condensates versus the Onsager-Penrose criterion: A friendly debate on Bose-Einstein condensation

Detlev Buchholz A

Published Aug 13, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

This article contrasts the concepts of a proper condensate and the Onsager-Penrose criterion for Bose-Einstein condensation in the form of a debate between two proponents of the respective concepts. The prologue briefly introduces the two criteria. The epilogue contains remarks on properties of the underlying resolvent algebra that are physically relevant in this context.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2608.13402

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This article contrasts the concepts of a proper condensate and the Onsager-Penrose criterion for Bose-Einstein condensation in the form of a debate between two proponents of the respective concepts. The prologue briefly introduces the two criteria. The epilogue contains remarks on properties of the underlying resolvent algebra that are physically relevant in this context.
The aim of this introductory article is two-fold. First, we aim to offer a general introduction to the theme of Bose-Einstein condensates, and briefly discuss the evolution of a number of relevant research directions during the last two decades. Second, we introduce and present the articles that appear in this Special Volume of Romanian Reports in Physics celebrating the conclusion of the second decade since the experimental creation of Bose-Einstein condensation in ultracold gases of alkali-metal atoms.
In this article a novel characterization of Bose-Einstein condensates is proposed. Instead of relying on occupation numbers of a few dominant modes, which become macroscopic in the limit of infinite particle numbers, it focuses on the regular excitations whose numbers stay bounded in this limit. In this manner, subspaces of global, respectively local regular wave functions are identified. Their orthogonal complements determine the wave functions of particles forming proper (infinite) condensates in the limit. In contrast to the concept of macroscopic occupation numbers, which does not sharply fix the wave functions of condensates in the limit states, the notion of proper condensates is unambiguously defined. It is outlined, how this concept can be used in the analysis of condensates in models. The method is illustrated by the example of trapped non-interacting ground states and their multifarious thermodynamic limits, differing by the structure of condensates accompanying the Fock vacuum. The concept of proper condensates is also compared with the Onsager-Penrose criterion, based on the analysis of eigenvalues of one-particle density matrices. It is shown that the concept of regular wave functions is useful there as well for the identification of wave functions forming proper condensates.
In this article, a novel characterization of Bose–Einstein condensates is proposed. Instead of relying on occupation numbers of a few dominant modes, which become macroscopic in the limit of infinite particle numbers, it focuses on the regular excitations whose numbers stay bounded in this limit. In this manner, subspaces of global, respectively, local regular wave functions are identified. Their orthogonal complements determine the wave functions of particles forming proper (infinite) condensates in the limit. In contrast to the concept of macroscopic occupation numbers, which does not sharply fix the wave functions of condensates in the limit states, the notion of proper condensates is unambiguously defined. It is outlined how this concept can be used in the analysis of condensates in models. The method is illustrated by the example of trapped non-interacting ground states and their multifarious thermodynamic limits, differing by the structure of condensates accompanying the Fock vacuum. The concept of proper condensates is also compared with the Onsager–Penrose criterion based on the analysis of eigenvalues of one-particle density matrices. It is shown that the concept of regular wave functions is also useful in that approach for the identification of wave functions forming proper condensates.
Exciton-polaritons, mixed light-matter quasiparticles in semiconductors, have recently shown evidence for Bose-Einstein condensation. Some of the properties of condensates of exciton-polaritons are reviewed in this article. We first discuss the spontaneous appearance of long-range order and the way this can be easily accessed in the case of polariton fluids. We show that the Penrose-Onsager criterion is valid even for such a very special case of condensate. We then describe the experiments that allow observation of topological defects in the fluid: quantized vortices, half vortices, and hyperbolic spin vortices. We demonstrate through the comparison with the gross Pitaevskii equation that the appearance and stability of such vortices are linked with the dissipative nature of the condensate together with the presence of disorder. We then briefly summarize the experiments on superfluid behavior of the polaritons at large-enough densities and expand somewhat more on the dynamical behavior of turbulence in the wake of an obstacle, with the appearance of vortex streets. We finally show that the Bogoliubov transformation has been revealed through four-wave mixing experiments.