Since the systems described by quantum fields are by definition extended, it is natural to think that in some limit they may reasonably well be approximated as fluids. This means that the state of the system is parameterized by a few locally well-defined fields such as temperature or energy density, obeying a set of hyperbolic equations of motion. A concrete example is the extensive use of fluid models to describe high-energy collisions [BelLan56, CarDuo73, CoFrSc74, Bjo83, CarZac83]. Our earlier derivation of quantum kinetic theory suggests a way to put this insight on a formal basis. Within its range of validity, the Boltzmann equation will drive the one-particle distribution function towards local thermal equilibrium. On scales much larger than the local thermalization scale, we expect to see hydrodynamical behavior [BeCoPa02]. This is, after all, the usual way of deriving hydrodynamics from kinetic theory [Hua87]. Beware, notwithstanding, that even at the level of classical kinetic theory there are still open questions regarding the cross-over from the kinetic to the hydro regime [KarGor02, KarGor03]. If we understand hydrodynamics as stated in the first paragraph of this chapter, then a system defined in terms of a quantum field may not have a hydrodynamic limit. This has been shown in [Elz02] for the case of a free Fermi field.
Since the systems described by quantum fields are by definition extended, it is natural to think that in some limit they may reasonably well be approximated as fluids. This means that the state of the system is parameterized by a few locally well-defined fields such as temperature or energy density, obeying a set of hyperbolic equations of motion. A concrete example is the extensive use of fluid models to describe high-energy collisions [BelLan56, CarDuo73, CoFrSc74, Bjo83, CarZac83]. Our earlier derivation of quantum kinetic theory suggests a way to put this insight on a formal basis. Within its range of validity, the Boltzmann equation will drive the one-particle distribution function towards local thermal equilibrium. On scales much larger than the local thermalization scale, we expect to see hydrodynamical behavior [BeCoPa02]. This is, after all, the usual way of deriving hydrodynamics from kinetic theory [Hua87]. Beware, notwithstanding, that even at the level of classical kinetic theory there are still open questions regarding the cross-over from the kinetic to the hydro regime [KarGor02, KarGor03]. If we understand hydrodynamics as stated in the first paragraph of this chapter, then a system defined in terms of a quantum field may not have a hydrodynamic limit. This has been shown in [Elz02] for the case of a free Fermi field.
In Chapters 11–13, we gave a detailed discussion of the dynamics of a trapped Bose gas at finite temperatures in a region where the collisions described by the C 12 and C 22 terms in the kinetic equation (3.42) do not play the central role. In this “collisionless” region, the dominant interaction effects are associated with the self-consistent fields which both the condensate and noncondensate atoms feel. Thus the dynamics can be understood to a first approximation by neglecting the C 12 and C 22 collision integrals in the kinetic equation and, at the next stage, treating them as a weak perturbation on the collisionless dynamics. In the rest of this book (Chapters 15–19), we turn to the study of the coupled ZNG equations in the opposite limit, where the C 12 and C 22 collision integrals completely determine the dynamics of the thermal cloud. Specifically, the collisions lead to the thermal cloud being in local hydrodynamic equilibrium, and hence this regime is described by the equations of collisional hydrodynamics. Its characteristic feature is that the nonequilibrium behaviour of the thermal cloud atoms can be completely described in terms of a few differential equations involving coarse-grained variables that are dependent on position and time, analogous to the condensate variables n c ( r , t ) and v c ( r , t ). In the present chapter, assuming that the thermal cloud distribution function f ( p, r , t ) is given by the Bose distribution describing partial local equilibrium, (15.16), we show how the ZNG coupled equations lead precisely to Landau's two-fluid equations, reviewed in Chapter 14. This equivalence is not obvious, mainly because Landau's equations are expressed in terms of thermodynamic variables, which are not used in a more microscopic analysis such as that used in the ZNG approach.
From the quantum kinetic equation of Bogoliubov, Gurov, Born, and Green, the equations of motion for macroscopic variables are examined in many different ways. First, in the configuration space a hierarchy of generalized fluid-dynamical equations can be obtained by taking the appropriate limits of the quantum kinetic equation. The resultant equations of continuity, of momentum, and of energy are similar in form to those one encounters in classical fluid dynamics with the exception of additional terms proportional to ${\ensuremath{\hbar}}^{2}$ Secondly, the quantum kinetic equation is examined in phase space. The same set of equations of continuity, of momentum, and of energy can be derived by taking the first three moments of the quantum kinetic equation. The exact results we obtained are utilized to form the starting point for many simplifying approximations for the investigation of the dynamics of quantum many-body systems such as the elastic response limit, the hydrodynamical limit, Landau's Fermi-liquid theory, and finally the time-dependent Hartree-Fock and the multideterminant time-dependent Hartree-Fock approximations. The fact that all these different dynamical descriptions can be traced to a common origin provides a unifying viewpoint to the present approach with the quantum kinetic equation.NUCLEAR STRUCTURE Dynamics of nuclear fluid, quantum kinetic equation, and generalized fluid-dynamical equation. Elastic response, hydrodynamical limit, Landau's Fermi-liquid theory, time-dependent Hartree-Fock approximation, and multideterminant time-dependent Hartree-Fock approximation.
Previous approaches of emergent thermalization for condensed matter based on typical wavefunctions are extended to generate an intrinsically quantum theory of gases. Gases are fundamentally quantum objects at all temperatures, by virtue of rapid delocalization of their constituents. When there is a sufficiently broad spread in the energy of eigenstates, a well-defined temperature is shown to arise by photon production when the samples are optically thick. This produces a highly accurate approximation to the Planck distribution so that thermalization arises from the initial data as a consequence of purely quantum and unitary dynamics. These results are used as a foil for some common hydrodynamic theory of ultracold gases. It is suggested here that strong history dependence typically remains in these gases and so limits the validity of thermodynamics in their description. These problems are even more profound in the extension of hydrodynamics to such gases when they are optically thin, even when their internal energy is not low. We investigate rotation of elliptically trapped gases and consistency problems with deriving a local hydrodynamic approach. The presence of vorticity that is "hidden" from order parameter approaches is discussed along with some buoyancy intrinsically associated with vorticity that gives essential quantum corrections to gases in the regimes where standard perturbation approaches to the Boltzmann equations are known to fail to converge. These results suggest that studying of trapped gases in the far from ultracold regions may yield interesting results not described by classical hydrodynamics.
In Chapter 15, we showed that in the limit of short collision times the coupled equations of motion for the condensate and noncondensate atoms lead to Landau's non-dissipative two-fluid hydrodynamics. However the approach used in Chapter 15 was not based on a small expansion parameter, in contrast with the more systematic Chapman–Enskog procedure used to derive hydrodynamic damping in the kinetic theory of classical gases. In the present chapter, we generalize the procedure of Chapter 15 to trapped Bose-condensed gases, in order to derive two-fluid hydrodynamic equations that include dissipation due to transport processes. We solve the kinetic equation by expanding the nonequilibrium single-particle distribution function f ( p, r , t ) around the distribution function f (0) ( p, r , t ) that describes complete local equilibrium between the condensate and the noncondensate components. All hydrodynamic damping effects are included by taking into account deviations from the local equilibrium distribution function f (0) . Our discussion for a trapped Bose gas is a natural extension of the pioneering work of Kirkpatrick and Dorfman (1983, 1985a) for a uniform Bose-condensed gas. This chapter is mainly based on their work as well as on Nikuni and Griffin (2001a,b). We will prove that, with appropriate definitions of various thermodynamic variables, our two-fluid hydrodynamic equations including damping have precisely the structure of those first derived by Landau and Khalatnikov for superfluid He. In particular, the damping associated with the collisional exchange of atoms between the condensate and noncondensate components, which is discussed at length in Chapter 15, is now expressed in terms of frequency-dependent second viscosity coefficients. This special type of damping is a characteristic signature of a dilute Bose superfluid and exists in addition to the hydrodynamic damping associated with the shear viscosity and thermal conductivity of the normal fluid.
This article is the second of a series where we propose a theory of the dynamics of quantum gases with a precise treatment of the short range two body correlations. For this purpose, we use a variant of the Wigner transform, the "free transform" , which has a useful property in this context: if, before collision, two particles are uncorrelated, the incoming part of the free Wigner transform remains always exactly factorized. Therefore, instead of asssuming a factorization of the two particle distribution, it is less restrictive to make a similar assumption on the free transform. Time symmetry is broken when the correlations of the outgoing part of the free transform are ignored; this approximation, which is well in the spirit of Boltzmann, amounts to considering successive collisions as independent processes (the correlations present in the outgoing part could play a role if the same particles rapidly collided again, an unlikely event in dilute gases). Therefore, the succession of collisions is not treated exactly, but each collision is, even during interaction. One then obtains a closed set of equations which leads directly to a kinetic equation for the free distribution $ f $. The equation includes retardation and quantum refraction effects, and provides a generalization of the Boltzmann equation. The reconstruction of the two particle distribution function $ f_{II} $ from $ f $ reintroduces the effects of short range correlations and, more generally, gives the values of all one particle and two particle physical observables. The price to pay for not using the usual one particle distribution is that the relation between the local physical quantities (density of particles, energy density, etc.) becomes more complicated than in the usual theory, and includes terms which are non linear in $ f $. We nevertheless show how this formalism automatically satisfies the local conservation of all hydrodynamic quantities: particle, momentum and energy densities. The pressure tensor includes quadratic terms which correspond to second virial corrections. The temperature of the gas is defined from the kinetic energy of the particles when they are far apart from each other. We finally briefly discuss the connections of this formalism with the classical Enskog theory, or mean field type theories such as the Landau theory (in particular, we note the presence of recoil effects in the "molecular field")