Critical temperature of an imperfect Bose gas

by Boris TOMASIK (CERN-TH)

Thursday 15 Nov 2001, 14:00 → 15:00 Europe/Zurich

TH Auditorium (CERN)

In a brief general update on atomistic Bose-Einstein condensation, I point out that while the calculation of the critical temperature of an ideal Bose gas is a textbook exercise, the question how it changes if atoms interact weakly is surprisingly non-trivial. The main difficulty comes from the need to deal with non-perturbative physics which is essential at the second order phase transition. I show how the tools of finite temperature field theory have been used to obtain the shift of the critical temperature due to interactions. I will distinguish between two situations - homogeneous and trapped gas - and present the treatment of both cases.