A soluble model of a Bose-Einstein system is examined, in which the interaction energy between particles is attractive as the momentum approaches zero. The model is based on one proposed by Bassichis and Foldy.
We study a system of trapped bosonic particles interacting by model harmonic forces. Our model allows for detailed examination of the notion of an order parameter (a condensate wave function). By decomposing a single particle density matrix into coherent eigenmodes we study an effect of interaction on the condensate. We show that sufficiently strong interactions cause that the condensate disappears even if the whole system is in its lowest energy state. In the second part of our paper we discuss the validity of the Bogoliubov approximation by comparing its predictions with results inferred from the exactl y soluble model. In particular we examine an energy spectrum, occupation, and fluctuations of the condensate. We conclude that Bogoliubov approach gives quite accurate description of the system in the limit of weak interactions.
The Bassichis–Foldy model of a simple interacting boson is solved numerically and the results are compared with those obtained by the Bogoliubov approximation and by the Brueckner–Sawada t-matrix formalism. In the normal region, contrary to the widely held view, the Brueckner–Sawada approximation for the energy of the ground state is not reliable for strong, well-behaved, repulsive forces. The Bogoliubov approximation, on the other hand, remains valid for a wide range of values of the coupling constant. In the inverted region, the attractive force causes a population inversion in the levels of the system. For this case a modified Brueckner–Sawada approximation is developed. This method is applied to the calculation of the transition point and the energies of the ground and the first excited states of the system. Here most of the predictions of the modified Brueckner–Sawada approximation are quite accurate. By a simple change in the Bassichis–Foldy model it is shown that even, for two bosons there can be a phase transition. In this model, the derivative of the ground state energy with respect to the coupling constant is discontinuous at the transition point.