Bose-Einstein condensation in the three-sphere and the infinite slab: analytical results

TL;DR

This paper provides analytical insights into how finite size effects influence Bose-Einstein condensation in different geometries, including the three-sphere and infinite slab, highlighting the approach to the thermodynamic limit and geometry-dependent behaviors.

Contribution

It offers explicit asymptotic expansions and analytical expressions for the chemical potential and specific heat near the BEC transition in finite geometries.

Findings

Finite size effects alter the BEC transition behavior.

Different geometries exhibit distinct finite size influences.

Analytical formulas describe the approach to the thermodynamic limit.

Abstract

We study the finite size effects on Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of an ideal non-relativistic Bose gas in the three-sphere (spatial section of the Einstein universe) and in a partially finite box which is infinite in two of the spatial directions (infinite slab). Using the framework of grand-canonical statistics, we consider the number of particles, the condensate fraction and the specific heat. After obtaining asymptotic expansions for large system size, which are valid throughout the BEC regime, we describe analytically how the thermodynamic limit behaviour is approached. In particular, in the critical region of the BEC transition, we express the chemical potential and the specific heat as simple explicit functions of the temperature, highlighting the effects of finite size. These effects are seen to be different for the two different geometries. We also consider the Bose gas in a one-dimensional box, a system which does not possess BEC in the sense of a phase transition even in the infinite volume limit.