Bose-Einstein Condensates in Astrophysics and Cosmology: From Quantum Statistics to Cosmic Structures

TL;DR

This paper explores how Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) could form and influence astrophysical phenomena like neutron stars, black holes, and dark matter, considering quantum effects in curved spacetime and their cosmological implications.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive theoretical framework for BEC formation in extreme gravitational fields and discusses their potential roles in cosmic structures and early universe physics.

Findings

BEC critical temperature depends on spacetime curvature.

Axion dark matter can form a cosmic BEC with a coherence length of ~10^-3 pc.

Quantum coherence effects may significantly impact cosmic structure formation.

Abstract

We present a comprehensive theoretical investigation of Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) and their manifestations in astrophysical and cosmological contexts. Building upon the foundations of quantum statistics in curved spacetime, we derive the conditions for BEC formation under extreme gravitational fields and explore their implications for compact objects and early universe physics. Through rigorous mathematical treatment incorporating general relativistic corrections to the Bose-Einstein distribution, we demonstrate that BEC phenomena may play crucial roles in neutron star interiors, primordial black hole formation, and dark matter halos. Our analysis reveals that the critical temperature for condensation exhibits non-trivial dependence on spacetime curvature, with corrections of order O(GM/rc2) becoming significant near compact objects. We further show that axion dark matter, if it exists, naturally forms a cosmic BEC with coherence length {\lambda}dB ~ 10^-3 pc for ma ~ 10^-22 eV, potentially explaining the observed core-cusp problem in galactic dark matter profiles. These findings suggest that quantum coherence effects at macroscopic scales may be more prevalent in the universe than previously recognized, with profound implications for our understanding of cosmic structure formation and the behaviour of matter under extreme conditions.