International Workshop on Atomic Interactions in Laser Fields - Abstracts
Kazimierz Rzazewski
Center for Theoretical Physics and College of Science, Al. Lotnikow 32/46, 02-668 Warszawa, Poland.
Recent experimental realisation of Bose-Einstein condensation of atomic vapors has forced us to reexamine the textbook theory of this phenomenon. The experiment is performed with finite number of atoms and the system is inhomogeneous because of the shape of the trapping potential. As a result, neither the notion of the thermodynamic limit nor the commonly used grand canonical ensemble are applicable.
In the last 3 years a considerable effort has been devoted to the study of thermodynamic properties of trapped Bose gas according to microcanonical and canonical ensembles. As a result, we understand the fluctuations of a finite inhomogenous sample of the ideal Bose gas. The situation with weakly interacting system is far from clear. In my lecture I will review the present status of this research.