2023/07/16 by Phil Attard, Attard, Phil
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Chemical Physics (physics.chem-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas) #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2307.11743
openalex publication_date 2023/07/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The paradox of Bose-Einstein condensation is that phenomena such as the λ-transition heat capacity and superfluid flow are macroscopic, whereas the occupancy of the ground state is microscopic. This contradiction is resolved with a simple derivation for ideal bosons that shows Bose-Einstein condensation is into multiple low-lying states, not just the ground state.