We have measured the critical atom number in an array of harmonically trapped two-dimensional (2D) Bose gases of rubidium atoms at different temperatures. We found this number to be about 5 times higher than predicted by the semiclassical theory of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) in the ideal gas. This demonstrates that the conventional BEC picture is inapplicable in an interacting 2D atomic gas, in sharp contrast to the three-dimensional case. A simple heuristic model based on the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless theory of 2D superfluidity and the local density approximation accounts well for our experimental results.
The thermodynamic properties of an ideal q-boson gas trapped in an n-dimensional harmonic potential are studied, based on the distribution function of q-bosons. The critical temperature Tc,q of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) and the heat capacity C of the system are derived analytically. It is shown that for the q-boson gas trapped in a harmonic potential, BEC may occur in any dimension when q ≠ 1, the critical temperature is always higher than that of an ordinary Bose gas (q = 1), and the heat capacity is continuous at Tc,q for a one-dimensional system but discontinuous at Tc,q for a two- or multi-dimensional system.
The equilibrium properties of a weakly interacting atomic Bose gas across the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) and Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) phase transitions are numerically investigated through a dimensionality crossover from two to three dimensions. The crossover is realized by confining the gas in an experimentally feasible hybridized trap which provides homogeneity along the planar
xy directions through a box potential in tandem with a harmonic transverse potential along the transverse
z direction. The dimensionality is modified by varying the frequency of the harmonic trap from tight to loose transverse trapping. Our findings, based on a stochastic (projected) Gross-Pitaevskii equation, showcase a continuous shift in the character of the phase transition from BKT to BEC, and a monotonic increase of the identified critical temperature as a function of dimensionality, with the strongest variation exhibited for small chemical potential values up to approximately twice the transverse confining potential.