Topics in phase transitions in Bose systems

Kanwal G. Singh

Victor Nikolaevich Popov

V. N. Popov

Moshe Gitterman, V. Halpern

This book presents a short, fairly simple course on the basic theory of phase transitions and its modern applications. In physics, these applications include such modern developments as Bose- Einstein condensation of atoms, high temperature superconductivity, and vortices in superconductors, while in other fields they include small world phenomena and scale-free systems (such as stock markets and the Internet). The advantage of treating all these topics together lies in showing their connection with one another and with the general theory of phase transitions.

Gergely T. Zimányi

Konstantinos G. Lagoudakis

Quantum phase transitions realized in inhomogeneous potentials is a topic of major importance in condensed matter physics. It involves non-trivial matter states, as Josephson oscillations for double potential wells [55], Mott insulators for periodic potentials [56], and Bose glasses for disorder potentials [57]. The case of disorder potentials is a crucial matter both for the intrinsic interest of phase transitions and for the unavoidable disorder in real systems. It is worth the effort to address this issue for the case of polariton condensates.