Thermodynamics of a dilute Bose gas: A path-integral Monte Carlo study

TL;DR

This study uses path-integral Monte Carlo simulations to analyze the thermodynamics of a dilute Bose gas, focusing on interaction effects, phase transition signatures, and comparing results with theoretical models.

Contribution

It provides precise numerical results for pressure, energy, and compressibility of a dilute Bose gas, highlighting deviations from ideal behavior and the limitations of perturbative theories.

Findings

Compressibility shows a discontinuity at the transition.

Interactions cause measurable deviations from ideal gas law.

Perturbative theories have limited accuracy near the critical point.

Abstract

We present precise path-integral Monte-Carlo results for the thermodynamics of a homogeneous dilute Bose gas. Pressure and energy are calculated as a function of temperature both below and above the Bose-Einstein transition. Specifically, we address interaction effects, focusing on deviations from the ideal gas law in the thermodynamic limit. We also calculate the isothermal compressibility and the contact parameter, which provide a clear signature of the role played by interactions. In particular, we show that the compressibility exhibits a discontinuity at the transition point. To gain physical insight, numerical results are systematically compared with the predictions of first-order Hartree-Fock and second-order Popov theories, both giving an approximate description of the gas thermodynamics. The comparison shows the extension of the critical region around the transition point, where the inaccuracies of the perturbative expansions are more pronounced.