Abstract We study Bose-Einstein condensation of comparatively small numbers of atoms trapped by a three-dimensional harmonic oscillator potential. Under the assumption that grand canonical statistics applies, we derive analytical expressions for the condensation temperature, the ground state occupation, and the specific heat capacity. For a gas of TV atoms the condensation temperature is proportional to N1/3, apart from a downward shift of order N-1/3. A signature of the condensation is a pronounced peak of the heat capacity. For not too small N the heat capacity is nearly discontinuous at the onset of condensation; the magnitude of the jump is about 6.6 N k. Our continuum approximations are derived with the help of the proper density of states which allows us to calculate finite-AT-corrections, and checked against numerical computations.
Bose–Einstein condensation is the anomalous accumulation of particles in the ground state of a system of bosons, when compared with the population in a system of particles obeying classical statistics. I use undergraduate-level statistical mechanics and a symbolic algebra computer program to study the occupation numbers of the energy levels of a finite number of noninteracting particles confined in a three-dimensional harmonic oscillator potential. I also calculate the heat capacity of the gas. The harmonic oscillator potential simplifies the calculations and approximates the conditions of the recent experiments achieving Bose–Einstein condensation in laser-cooled alkali vapors.
We study the thermodynamic behavior of an ideal gas of bosons trapped in a three-dimensional anisotropic harmonic-oscillator potential. The condensate fraction as well as the specific heat is calculated using the Euler-Maclaurin approximation. For a finite number of particles there is no phase transition, but there is a well-defined temperature at which the condensation starts. We also consider condensation in lower dimensions, and, for one-dimensional systems, we discuss the dependence of the condensate fraction and heat capacity on the ensemble used.
The Bose-Einstein condensation of a dilute gas of rubidium-87 atoms was achieved by cooling a small number of atoms in a magnetic trap. The effective potential of the trap is to lowest order harmonic and under these conditions we estimate the critical temperature and the heat capacity of an ideal gas of Bose particles. Previously this has been estimated within the semiclassical approximation. However, because of the small number of atoms, the resulting
Tc deviates slightly from our result obtained by exact numerical calculations. For the gap of the heat capacity at the transition point the deviation is
20%.
We consider a finite number of noninteracting bosons trapped in an isotropic three-dimensional harmonic oscillator. Using the grand canonical ensemble, we calculate the heat capacity of the system as a function of temperature, for several values of the number of particles. We find that a new definition of critical temperature is necessary for a finite number of trapped particles, and present a definition that is experimentally convenient and in good agreement with a recent definition given by W. Ketterle and N. J. van Druten [Phys. Rev. A 54, 656 (1996)].
Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of an ideal gas is investigated, beyond the thermodynamic limit, for a finite number
N of particles trapped in a generic three-dimensional power-law potential. We derive an analytical expression for the condensation temperature
Tc in terms of a power series in ${x}_{0}={\ensuremath{\varepsilon}}_{0}/{k}_{B}{T}_{c}$, where ${\ensuremath{\varepsilon}}_{0}$ denotes the zero-point energy of the trapping potential. This expression, which applies in Cartesian, cylindrical, and spherical power-law traps, is given analytically at infinite order. It is also given numerically for specific potential shapes as an expansion in powers of
x0 up to the second order. We show that, for a harmonic trap, the well-known first-order shift of the critical temperature $\ensuremath{\Delta}{T}_{c}/{T}_{c}\ensuremath{\propto}{N}^{\ensuremath{-}1/3}$ is inaccurate when $N\ensuremath{\leqslant}{10}^{5}$, the next order (proportional to ${N}^{\ensuremath{-}1/2}$) being significant. We also show that finite-size effects on the condensation temperature cancel out in a cubic trapping potential, e.g., $V(r)\ensuremath{\propto}{r}^{3}$. Finally, we show that in a generic power-law potential of higher order, e.g., $V(r)\ensuremath{\propto}{r}^{\ensuremath{\alpha}}$ with $\ensuremath{\alpha}>3$, the shift of the critical temperature becomes positive. This effect provides a large increase of
Tc for relatively small atom numbers. For instance, an increase of about $+$40% is expected with
104 atoms in a $V(r)\ensuremath{\propto}{r}^{12}$ trapping potential.
We question the validity of the grand canonical ensemble for the description of Bose-Einstein condensation of small ideal Bose gas samples in isolated harmonic traps. While the ground state fraction and the specific heat capacity can be well approximated with the help of the conventional grand canonical arguments, the calculation of the fluctuation of the number of particles contained in the condensate requires a microcanonical approach. Resorting to the theory of restricted partitions of integer numbers, we present analytical and numerical results for such fluctuations in one- and three-dimensional traps, and show that their magnitude is essentially independent of the total particle number.