Publication Date

3-1998

Description

Bose–Einstein condensation is the anomalous accumulation of particles in the ground state of a system of bosons, when compared with the population in a system of particles obeying classical statistics. I use undergraduate-level statistical mechanics and a symbolic algebra computer program to study the occupation numbers of the energy levels of a finite number of noninteracting particles confined in a three-dimensional harmonic oscillator potential. I also calculate the heat capacity of the gas. The harmonic oscillator potential simplifies the calculations and approximates the conditions of the recent experiments achieving Bose–Einstein condensation in laser-cooled alkali vapors.

Journal

American Journal of Physics

Volume

66

Issue

3

First Page

185

Last Page

190

Department

Physics & Astronomy

Publisher Statement

Copyright 1998, American Association of Physics Teachers. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Association of Physics Teachers.

DOI

doi.org/10.1119/1.18843

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