We consider the non-interacting Bose gas of
N bosons in dimension
d≥3 in a trap in a mean-field setting with a vanishing factor
aN in front of the kinetic energy. The choice
aN=N−2/d is the semi-classical setting and was analysed in great detail in a special, interacting case in Deuchert and Seiringer (2021). Using a version of the well-known Feynman--Kac representation and a further representation in terms of a Poisson point process, we derive precise asymptotics for the reduced one-particle density matrix, implying off-diagonal long-range order (ODLRO, a well-known criterion for Bose--Einstein condensation) for
aN above a certain threshold and non-occurrence of ODLRO for
aN below that threshold. In particular, we relate the condensate and its total mass to the amount of particles in long loops in the Feynman--Kac formula, the order parameter that Feynman suggested in Feynman (1953). For
aN≪N−2/d, we prove that all loops have the minimal length one, and for
aN≫N−2/d we prove 100 percent condensation and identify the distribution of the long-loop lengths as the Poisson--Dirichlet distribution.
We consider the non-interacting Bose gas of N bosons in dimension d≥3 in a trap in a mean-field setting with a vanishing factor aN in front of the kinetic energy. The choice aN=N−2∕d is the semi-classical setting and was analysed in great detail in a special, interacting case in [DS21]. Using a version of the well-known Feynman–Kac representation and a further representation in terms of a Poisson point process, we derive precise asymptotics for the reduced one-particle density matrix, implying off-diagonal long-range order (ODLRO, a well-known criterion for Bose–Einstein condensation) for aN above a certain threshold and non-occurrence of ODLRO for aN below that threshold. In particular, we relate the condensate and its total mass to the amount of particles in long loops in the Feynman–Kac formula, the order parameter that Feynman suggested in [Fe53]. For aN≪N−2∕d, we prove that all loops have the minimal length one, and for aN≫N−2∕d we prove 100 percent condensation and identify the distribution of the long-loop lengths as the Poisson–Dirichlet distribution.
Based on the paper "Fourier formula for quantum partition functions", arXiv:2106.10032 [math-ph], we show that in an infinite system of identical bosons interacting via a positive-type pair potential there is off-diagonal long-range order if and only if a nonzero fraction of the particles form infinite permutation cycles. In particular, there is Bose-Einstein condensation if and only if the diverging cycle lengths increase at least as fast with
N, the number of particles, as
N2/d in
d≥3 dimensions. This extends a similar result known for the ideal Bose gas.