Correlational latent heat by nonlocal quantum kinetic theory

A kinetic equation of nonlocal and noninstantaneous character unifies the achievements of transport in dense quantum gases with the Landau theory of quasiclassical transport in Fermi systems. Large cancellations in the off-shell motion appear, which are usually hidden in non-Markovian behaviors. The remaining corrections are expressed in terms of shifts in space and time that characterize the nonlocality of the scattering process. In this way, it is possible to recast quantum transport into a quasiclassical picture. In addition to the quasiparticle, the balance equations for density, momentum, energy, and entropy also include correlated two-particle contributions beyond the Landau theory. The medium effects on binary collisions are shown to mediate the latent heat, i.e., an energy conversion between correlation and thermal energy. For Maxwellian particles with time-dependent $s$-wave scattering, the correlated parts of the observables are calculated and a sign change of the latent heat is reported at a universal ratio of scattering length to the thermal de Broglie wavelength. This is interpreted as a change from correlational heating to cooling.

Figure 1

The molecular density (8) (black thick line), energy gain (16) per external power (33) which is the latent heat (red dashed line), and correlation energy (8) (thin line) vs the dimensionless scattering length (28) for Maxwellian particles.