Publication Date
2003
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.
Pages
661-669
Volume
71
Issue
7
Journal Title
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICS
Comments
This is the pre-published version which is collected from arXiv. The published version is at http://ajp.aapt.org/resource/1/ajpias/v71/i7/p661_s1