2011/02/23 by V Romero-Rochin, Romero-Rochin, R F Shiozaki +18
Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #FOS: Physical sciences #Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas) #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #cond-mat.quant-gas
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1102.4642
11 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2011/02/23 · openalex publication_date 2011/02/23 · arxiv updated 2011/02/24 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We measure the phase diagram of a 87Rb Bose gas in a harmonic trap in terms of macroscopic parameters obtained from the spatial distribution of atoms. Considering the relevant variables as size of the cloud \cal V, number of atoms N and temperature T, a novel parameter Π= Π(N,\cal V,T) is introduced to characterize the overall pressure of the system. We construct the phase diagram (Π vs T) identifying new features related to Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) transition in a trapped gas. A thermodynamic description of the phase transition based on purely macroscopic parameters, provide us with properties that do not need the local density approximation. An unexpected consequence of this analysis is the suggestion that BEC appears as a continuous third-order phase transition instead of being a second-order one.