Subcritical temperature in Bose-Einstein condensates of chiral molecules

TL;DR

This paper predicts that Bose-Einstein condensation of chiral molecules results in optical activity and a subcritical heat capacity temperature, revealing insights into parity violation energy differences between enantiomers.

Contribution

It introduces a model linking molecular internal structure to observable thermodynamic anomalies in Bose-Einstein condensates of chiral molecules.

Findings

Optical activity emerges in the condensate.

A subcritical temperature appears in heat capacity.

Singular behavior indicates parity violation energy differences.

Abstract

Bose-Einstein condensation of a sample of non-interacting chiral molecules leads to a non zero optical activity of the condensate and also to a subcritical temperature in the heat capacity. This is due to the internal structure of the molecule which, in our model, is considered as a simple two-state system, characterized by tunneling and parity violation. The predicted singular behavior found for the specific heat, below the condensation temperature, sheds some light on the existence of the so far elusive parity violation energy difference between enantiomers.