English

Bose-Einstein Condensation, Fluctuations, and Recurrence Relations in Statistical Mechanics

Statistical Mechanics 2016-08-16 v3

Abstract

We calculate certain features of Bose-Einstein condensation in the ideal gas by using recurrence relations for the partition function. The grand canonical ensemble gives inaccurate results for certain properties of the condensate that are accurately provided by the canonical ensemble. Calculations in the latter can be made tractable for finite systems by means of the recurrence relations. The ideal one-dimensional harmonic Bose gas provides a particularly simple and pedagogically useful model for which detailed results are easily derived. An analysis of the Bose system via permutation cycles yields insight into the physical meaning of the recurrence relations.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0211115,
  title  = {Bose-Einstein Condensation, Fluctuations, and Recurrence Relations in Statistical Mechanics},
  author = {W. J. Mullin and J. P. Fernández},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0211115},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

27 pages, 6 figures, accepted by Am. J. Phys

R2 v1 2026-07-22T10:43:06.898Z