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Technical thermodynamics of an inhomogeneous gas around the Bose-Einstein transition using the global-variable method

Marcos Miotti

Published Oct 13, 2021• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Thermodynamics of non-uniform systems has always been a challenging topic in the physical sciences.In the field of quantum gases, that subject is mainly studied with ultracold samples trapped in a harmonic potential, the first kind of confinement ever made to atomic fluids. 1 Nascimbène et al. 2 have already described a method to measure locally the equation of state and heat capacity of a harmonically trapped quantum gas.Nonetheless, local measurements cannot provide the volume-dependent susceptibilities of an inhomogeneous system, namely the thermal expansion and compressibility, meaning that the thermodynamic description of harmonically trapped gases is still incomplete.To solve that issue, Romero and Bagnato 3, 4 proposed canonical variables of work for a gas in a harmonic trap, which work like pressure and volume for a gas in a vessel and allow global measurements on the system.Therefore, we describe here our methodology to measure the thermodynamic susceptibilities of a harmonically trapped gas around the Bose-Einstein transition using the Romero-Bagnato formalism.Our experiments were divided in different phases, each having the harmonic trap with unique frequencies, related to the formalism's extensive variable.In each phase, we prepared individual samples of rubidium-87 gas in the trap and imaged them using the time-of-flight technique.Next, we fitted our images with the bimodal model and found the in situ density profiles of the samples with the standard regression procedures.Then, we determined the phase's equation of state as a function of temperature and number of atoms.For the thermodynamic analysis, we used an empirical model that we developed to fit the equation-of-state curves, allowing us to represent our data in terms of mathematical coefficients.In that way, we found the curves of internal energy, heat capacity, thermal expansion and compressibility, thus achieving a full thermodynamic description of a harmonically trapped gas.Our method and its results are unprecedented in the literature and might contribute to the further understanding of non-uniform systems, as well as the future development of quantum thermal engines.

DOI
10.11606/d.76.2021.tde-22112021-093755

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Thermodynamics of non-uniform systems has always been a challenging topic in the physical sciences.In the field of quantum gases, that subject is mainly studied with ultracold samples trapped in a harmonic potential, the first kind of confinement ever made to atomic fluids. 1 Nascimbène et al. 2 have already described a method to measure locally the equation of state and heat capacity of a harmonically trapped quantum gas.Nonetheless, local measurements cannot provide the volume-dependent susceptibilities of an inhomogeneous system, namely the thermal expansion and compressibility, meaning that the thermodynamic description of harmonically trapped gases is still incomplete.To solve that issue, Romero and Bagnato 3, 4 proposed canonical variables of work for a gas in a harmonic trap, which work like pressure and volume for a gas in a vessel and allow global measurements on the system.Therefore, we describe here our methodology to measure the thermodynamic susceptibilities of a harmonically trapped gas around the Bose-Einstein transition using the Romero-Bagnato formalism.Our experiments were divided in different phases, each having the harmonic trap with unique frequencies, related to the formalism's extensive variable.In each phase, we prepared individual samples of rubidium-87 gas in the trap and imaged them using the time-of-flight technique.Next, we fitted our images with the bimodal model and found the in situ density profiles of the samples with the standard regression procedures.Then, we determined the phase's equation of state as a function of temperature and number of atoms.For the thermodynamic analysis, we used an empirical model that we developed to fit the equation-of-state curves, allowing us to represent our data in terms of mathematical coefficients.In that way, we found the curves of internal energy, heat capacity, thermal expansion and compressibility, thus achieving a full thermodynamic description of a harmonically trapped gas.Our method and its results are unprecedented in the literature and might contribute to the further understanding of non-uniform systems, as well as the future development of quantum thermal engines.
Thermodynamics of non-uniform systems has always been a challenging topic in the physical sciences. In the field of quantum gases, that subject is mainly studied with ultracold samples trapped in a harmonic potential, the first kind of confinement ever made to atomic fluids.1 Nascimbène et al.2 have already described a method to measure locally the equation of state and heat capacity of a harmonically trapped quantum gas. Nonetheless, local measurements cannot provide the volume-dependent susceptibilities of an inhomogeneous system, namely the thermal expansion and compressibility, meaning that the thermodynamic description of harmonically trapped gases is still incomplete. To solve that issue, Romero and Bagnato3, 4 proposed canonical variables of work for a gas in a harmonic trap, which work like pressure and volume for a gas in a vessel and allow global measurements on the system. Therefore, we describe here our methodology to measure the thermodynamic susceptibilities of a harmonically trapped gas around the Bose-Einstein transition using the Romero-Bagnato formalism. Our experiments were divided in different phases, each having the harmonic trap with unique frequencies, related to the formalism´s extensive variable. In each phase, we prepared individual samples of rubidium-87 gas in the trap and imaged them using the time-of-flight technique. Next, we fitted our images with the bimodal model and found the in situ density profiles of the samples with the standard regression procedures. Then, we determined the phase´s equation of state as a function of temperature and number of atoms. For the thermodynamic analysis, we used an empirical model that we developed to fit the equation-of-state curves, allowing us to represent our data in terms of mathematical coefficients. In that way, we found the curves of internal energy, heat capacity, thermal expansion and compressibility, thus achieving a full thermodynamic description of a harmonically trapped gas. Our method and its results are unprecedented in the literature and might contribute to the further understanding of non-uniform systems, as well as the future development of quantum thermal engines.
Quantum thermal engines are receiving much attention in recent years, due to their potential applications.~For a candidate group, harmonically trapped gases under Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC), we see little investigation on the energy transference around that transition.~Therefore, we present an empirical study with rubidium-87 gas samples in a magnetic harmonic trap.~We developed an empirical Equation of State model to fit to our experimental dataset, expressing the pressure parameter (P\mathcal{P}P) in terms of temperature (TTT) and six technical coeffcients ({ai}0,…,4\{a_i\}_{0,\dots,4}{ai​}0,…,4​, TthT_\mathrm{th}Tth​), functions of volume parameter (V\mathcal{V}V) and number of atoms (NNN).~For weakly interacting gases, the internal energy is U≅3PVU\cong3\mathcal{P}\mathcal{V}U≅3PV, thus we determine the entropy with U=TS−PVU = TS - \mathcal{P}\mathcal{V}U=TS−PV for fixed NNN.~As expected, we show that the entropy at the BEC transition (ScS_cSc​) is constant for varying V\mathcal{V}V.~Being isentropic makes BEC transition an energy source for non-mechanical work.~Hence, we observed that the enthalpy at the BEC transition Hc=Ec+PcV=TcScH_c = E_c + \mathcal{P}_c\mathcal{V} = T_cS_cHc​=Ec​+Pc​V=Tc​Sc​, at fixed values of V\mathcal{V}V and varying NNN, grows fairly linearly with NNN.~We fitted Hc=ηN−Hc0H_c=\eta{N}-H_c^0Hc​=ηN−Hc0​ to that data, being η\etaη the specific enthalpy of BEC transformation and Hc0H_c^0Hc0​ an intrinsic enthalpic loss.~We deem this study to be a step closer to practical quantum-based engines.
We present theoretical aspects concerning the thermodynamics of an ideal bosonic gas trapped by a harmonic potential. Working in the Grand Canonical ensemble we are able to properly identify the extensive thermodynamic variable equivalent to the volume and the intensive thermodynamic variable equivalent to the pressure. These are called the "harmonic volume" and the "harmonic pressure" and their physical meaning is discussed. With these variables, the problem of Bose-Einstein condensation is studied in terms of the behavior of the corresponding equation of state and in terms of measurable susceptibilities such as the heat capacities, the isothermal compressibility and the coefficient of thermal expansion. From the analysis, an interesting analogy with Black-Body radiation emerges, showing that at and below the critical temperature, the non-condensate fraction of atoms behaves thermodynamically like a gas of massless particles.
To overcome the difficulties in defining pressure for a gas confined in an inhomogeneous trap, we define single macroscopic parameters that behave like pressure and volume. We measure the phase diagram of a 87{}^{87}87Rb Bose gas in a harmonic trap in terms of those macroscopic parameters obtained from the spatial distribution of atoms. Considering the relevant variables such as the trap potential $\mathcal{V}={({\ensuremath{\omega}}_{x}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{y}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{z})}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$, number of atoms NNN, and temperature TTT, a parameter $\ensuremath{\Pi}=\ensuremath{\Pi}(N,\mathcal{V},T)$ is introduced to characterize the overall macroscopic pressure of the system. We construct the phase diagram ($\ensuremath{\Pi}$ vs TTT) identifying the main features related to the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) transition in a trapped gas. A thermodynamic description of the phase transition based on purely macroscopic parameters provides us with a description that does not need the local-density approximation. This procedure can be used to explore different aspects related to BEC such as the nature of the phase transition in a trapped gas.
In this work we present our contribution to the Latin American School of Physics “Marcos Moshinsky” 2017 on Quantum Correlations which was held in Mexico City during the summer of 2017. We review the efforts that have been done to construct a global thermodynamic description of ultracold dilute gases confined in inhomogeneous potentials. This is difficult because the presence of this non-uniform trap makes the pressure of the gas to be a spatially dependent variable and its volume an ambiguously defined quantity. In this paper we introduce new global thermodynamic variables, equivalent to pressure and volume, and propose a realistic model of the equation of state of the system. This model is based on a mean-field approach which asymptotically reaches the Thomas-Fermi limit for a weakly interacting Bose gas. We put special emphasis to the transition between the normal and superfluid phases by studying the behavior of the isothermal compressibility across the transition. We reveal how the potential modifies the critical properties of the transition by determining the critical exponents associated to the divergences not of the susceptibilities but of their derivatives.
Phase transitions are well understood and generally followed by the behavior of the associated thermodynamic quantities, such as in the case of the $\ensuremath{\lambda}$-point superfluid transition of liquid He, which is observed in its heat capacity. In the case of a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate, the heat capacity cannot be directly measured. In this work, we present a technique capable of determining the global heat capacity from the density distribution of a weakly interacting gas trapped in an inhomogeneous potential. This approach represents an alternative to models based on the local density approximation. By defining a pair of global conjugate variables, we determine the total internal energy and its temperature derivative, the heat capacity. We then apply the technique to a trapped 87Rb^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb BEC, and a $\ensuremath{\lambda}$-type transition dependent on the atom number is observed, and the deviations from the noninteracting, ideal gas case are discussed. Finally, we discuss the chances of using this method to study the heat capacity at $T\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$.