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arXiv:cond-mat/9604037 · Europhysics Letters (EPL)

Phase transition of a Bose gas in a harmonic potential

K Damle, T. Senthil, Satya N. Majumdar, Subir Sachdev A

Published Oct 1, 1996• 47 citations
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Abstract

We consider a Bose gas confined by a harmonic potential. We define an appropriate thermodynamic limit and analyze the properties of the phases and phase transition in this limit. Critical properties in the presence of the potential are found to be different from, though simply related to, those in the usual translationally invariant case. We argue that the properties of magnetically trapped rubidium and sodium gases (in which Bose-Einstein condensation has recently been observed) are well approximated by our thermodynamic limit except in a narrow window of temperature around the critical temperature. We also consider the effect of the confining potential on the non-equilibrium dynamics following a rapid quench to the ordered side and give a scaling description of the late-time universal dynamics.

DOI
10.1209/epl/i1996-00179-4

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We consider a Bose gas confined by a harmonic potential. We define an appropriate thermodynamic limit and analyze the properties of the phases and phase transition in this limit. Critical properties in the presence of the potential are found to be different from, though simply related to, those in the usual translationally invariant case. We argue that the properties of magnetically trapped rubidium and sodium gases (in which Bose-Einstein condensation has recently been observed) are well approximated by our thermodynamic limit except in a narrow window of temperature around the critical temperature. We also consider the effect of the confining potential on the non-equilibrium dynamics following a rapid quench to the ordered side and give a scaling description of the late-time universal dynamics.
Abstract The critical properties of the phase transition from a normal gas to a Bose–Einstein condensate (superfluid) of a harmonically confined Bose gas are addressed with the knowledge of an equation of state of the underlying homogeneous Bose fluid. It is shown that while the presence of the confinement trap arrests the usual divergences of the isothermal compressibility and heat capacities, the critical behavior manifests itself now in the divergence of derivatives of the mentioned susceptibilities. This result is illustrated with a mean-field like model of an equation of state for the homogeneous particle density as a function of the chemical potential and temperature of the gas. The model assumes the form of an ideal Bose gas in the normal fluid while in the superfluid state a function is proposed such that, both, asymptotically reaches the Thomas–Fermi solution of a weakly interacting Bose gas at large densities and low temperatures and, at the transition, matches the critical properties of the ideal Bose gas. With this model we obtain the global thermodynamics of the harmonically confined gas, from which we analyze its critical properties. We discuss how these properties can be experimentally tested.
We report the measurement of the global thermal expansion coefficient of a confined Bose gas of 87Rb^{87}\rm Rb87Rb in a harmonic potential around the Bose-Einstein condensation transition temperature. We use the concept of global thermodynamic variable, previously introduced and appropriated for a non homogeneous system. The data show divergence on the thermal expansion coefficient near the transition temperature and analyses of the universality behavior shows a critical exponent α=0.15±0.09\alpha = 0.15\pm 0.09α=0.15±0.09. With this obtained value and the critical exponent for the correlation length recently presented in the literature we analyse the scaling law combining dimension and critical exponents.
Abstract The critical properties displayed by an ideal 2D Bose gas trapped in a harmonic potential are determined and characterized in an exact numerical fashion. Beyond thermodynamics, addressed in terms of the global pressure and volume which are the appropriate variables of a fluid confined in a non-uniform harmonic potential, the density-density correlation function is also calculated and the corresponding correlation length is found. Evaluation of all these quantities as Bose–Einstein condensation (BEC) is approached manifest its critical continuous phase transition character. The divergence of the correlation length as the critical temperature is reached, unveils the expected spatial scale invariance proper of a critical transition. The logarithmic singularities of this transition are traced back to the non-analytic behavior of the thermodynamic variables at vanishing chemical potential, which is the onset of BEC. The critical exponents associated with the ideal BEC transition in the 2D inhomogeneous fluid reveals its own universality class.
The critical properties of the phase transition from a normal gas to a BEC (superfluid) of a harmonically confined Bose gas are analyzed using a proposed model for the equation of state of the underlying homogenous Bose fluid. The equation of state is given in terms of the homogenous particle density as a function of the chemical potential and temperature of the gas. On the normal side of the fluid it is assumed to be an ideal Bose gas while in the superfluid state we propose a function that, both, asymptotically reaches the Thomas-Fermi solution of a weakly interacting Bose gas at large densities and low temperatures and, at the transition, matches the critical properties of the ideal Bose gas. With this model we obtain the {\it global} thermodynamics of the harmonically confined gas which shows that, at the critical transition of the confined gas, the thermodynamic susceptibilities, such as the isothermal compressibility, do not diverge, in contrast to the behavior of the uniform gas. The singularity of the critical transition in the confined system appears now at the derivatives of the susceptibilities. We discuss how these properties can be experimentally tested.
We have investigated the thermodynamic behaviour of ideal Bose gases with an arbitrary number of particles confined in a harmonic potential. By taking into account the conservation of the total number N of particles and using a saddle-point approximation, we derive analytically the simple explicit expression of mean occupation number in any state of the finite system. The temperature dependence of the chemical potential, specific heat, and condensate fraction for the trapped finite-size Bose system is obtained numerically. We compare our results with the usual treatment which is based on the grand canonical ensemble. It is shown that there exists a considerable difference between them at sufficiently low temperatures, especially for the relative small numbers of Bose atoms. The finite-size scaling at the transition temperature for the harmonically trapped systems is also discussed. We find that the scaled condensate fractions for various system sizes and temperatures collapse onto a single scaled form.
One of the most interesting properties of boson gases is that under special conditions, there is a possibility of a phase transition, in a critical temperature below which all bosons condensate into the ground state. This phenomenon is called Bose – Einstein Condensation (BEC). In this paper, we investigate BEC in a harmonic oscillator trap. We conclude that, in contrast to a free boson gas, there is no critical temperature for phase transition in a harmonic oscillator trap. However , by numerical and analytical calculation, it is possible to obtain a temperature at which the heat capacity is maximum. We call this the critical temperature . Possible explanation for all these features will be explained in this paper.