A new approach to bose condensation and superfluidity in4He

J. Mayers

J. Mayers

J. Mayers

Richard N. Silver

The discovery of superfluidity in liquid {sup 4}He below T{sub {lambda}} = 2.17 K, and its phenomenological characterization since then, has been one of the great success stories of condensed matter physics. The relation of superfluidity to the behavior of atoms was conjectured by F. London in 1938. Superfluidity is a manifestation of the Bose condensation of helium atoms, the extensive occupation of the zero momentum state. Ever since {sup 4}He has been the paradigm in the search for Bose condensates in other systems. At the Pune meeting scientists have heard exciting new evidence for Bose condensates of laser cooled alkali atoms in magnetic traps, of excitons in Cu{sub 2}O, and possibly pre-formed Cooper pairs of electrons in the high {Tc} perovskite superconductors. There remains the holy-grail of forming a Bose condensate in spin-polarized hydrogen. In the current excitement for new types of Bose condensates, and new phenomena such as atom lasers, it may be useful to recall the older story of the experimental verification of a relation between superfluidity and Bose condensation in {sup 4}He. This topic has been investigated over many years by neutron scattering experiments and quantum many-body theory. The authors goal is to illustrate the difficulties of establishing the existence of a Bose condensate in a strongly interacting system, even though its macroscopic effects are manifest. The author assumes readers have access to a review by Silver and Sokol which emphasizes the neutron scattering theory through 1990 and a review by Snow and Sokol of the deep inelastic neutron scattering (DINS) experiments through 1995.

Phil Attard

Bose-Einstein condensation, superfluidity, and superconductivity are quantum mechanics made visible. They mark the boundary between the classical and the quantum worlds, and they show the macroscopic role of quantum mechanics in condensed matter. This book presents these phenomena in terms of particles, their positions, and their momenta, giving a concrete visualisation and description that is not possible with traditional wave functions. A single approach that bridges the classical-quantum divide provides new insight into the role of particle interactions in condensation, the nature of collisions in superfluid flow, and the physical form of Cooper pairs in high-temperature superconductors. High-temperature superconductivity is explored with quantum statistical mechanics, which links it to Bose-Einstein condensation. Identifying a new mechanism for Cooper pairing, this explains the differences between the low- and high-temperature superconducting regimes and the role of the molecular structure of the conductor. The new perspective offered by this book on Bose-Einstein condensation, superfluidity, and high-temperature superconductivity gives particle-based explanations as well as mathematical and computational methods for these macroscopic quantum phenomena so that readers understand the role of particle interactions and structure in the physics of these phenomena. This book will appeal to undergraduate and graduate students, lecturers, academics, and scientific researchers in the fields of Bose-Einstein condensation and condensates, superfluidity, and superconductivity. It will also be of interest to those working with thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, statistical physics, quantum mechanics, molecular dynamics, materials science, condensed matter physics, and theoretical chemistry. Key Features: · Explores Bose-Einstein condensation with new evidence for multiple condensed states and novel Monte Carlo simulations for interacting bosons · Establishes the thermodynamic nature of condensed bosons from an analysis of fountain pressure measurements, including that they carry energy and entropy, and the thermodynamic principle of superfluid flow · Derives equations of motion for condensed bosons, and performs molecular dynamics simulations of the viscosity with molecular trajectories that give rise to superfluidity · Identifies the mechanism for electron pairing in high-temperature superconductivity

Bipin R. Desai