Abstract
Bose-Einstein condensation, the macroscopic occupation of a single quantum state, appears in equilibrium quantum statistical mechanics and persists also in the hydrodynamic regime close to equilibrium. Here we show that even when a degenerate Bose gas is driven into a steady state far from equilibrium, where the notion of a single-particle ground state becomes meaningless, Bose-Einstein condensation survives in a generalized form: the unambiguous selection of an odd number of states acquiring large occupations. Within mean-field theory we derive a criterion for when a single state and when multiple states are Bose selected in a noninteracting gas. We study the effect in several driven-dissipative model systems, and propose a quantum switch for heat conductivity based on shifting between one and three selected states.
- Received 28 August 2013
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.240405
© 2013 American Physical Society
Focus
Shake a Condensate to Spawn Dozens of Them
Published 20 December 2013
Violently shaking a Bose-Einstein condensate of atoms can force them to separate into many condensates, according to simulations. The results should apply to other particles as well.
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