Overview
"The book is an introductory text to the physics of Bose-Einstein condensation. This phenomenon, first predicted by Einstein in 1925, has been realized experimentally in 1995 in a remarkable series of experiments whose importance has been recognized by the award of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics. The condensate is actually a new state of matter, where quantum-mechanical wave functions of atoms behave as coherent matter waves in the same way as coherent light waves in the case of a laser. The authors provide a theoretical presentation of the main concepts underlying the physics of dilute atomic gases in conditions of extremely low temperatures where quantum effects play a crucial role. The main effort is devoted to discussion of the relevant theoretical aspects exhibited by these systems, such as the concept of order parameter, long range order, superfluidity and coherence. The mathematical formalism is presented in a form convenient for practical use. The book develops the theory of Bose gases starting from the pioneering Bogoliubov approach and gives special emphasis to the new physical features exhibited by non-uniform gases which are produced in the recent experiments with magnetic and optical traps. These features include the determination of the equilibrium profiles, the collective oscillations, the mechanism of the expansion of the gas after releasing the trap, the interference patterns obtained by overlapping two condensates, the rotational properties revealing the effects of superfluidity (quantized vortices, behaviour of the moment of inertia), the Josephson-like phenomena associated with the coherence of the phase, the beyond mean field phenomena exhibited by quantum gases in conditions of reduced dimensionality (1D and 2D) etc. The book also discusses the analogies and differences with the physics of ""classical"" superfluids like liquid helium and introduces some of the major features of trapped Fermi gases at low temperature, pointing out the consequences of superfluidity."
Full Product Details
Author: Lev. P. Pitaevskii (, Department of Physics, University of Trento, Italy and Kapitza Institute for Physical Problems, Moscow, Russia) ,
Sandro Stringari (, Department of Physics, University of Trento, Italy)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Volume: 116
Dimensions:
Width: 16.20cm
, Height: 2.50cm
, Length: 24.20cm
Weight: 0.820kg
ISBN: 9780198507192
ISBN 10: 0198507194
Pages: 394
Publication Date: 03 April 2003
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
... the book is welcome. It has an interesting organization which makes it useful for an ample audience. Mathematical Reviews ... well-written ... The book contains a comprehensive introduction to BEC for physicists new to the field as well as a lot of detail and insight for those already familiar with this area. Journal of Physics
Author Information
L. Pitaevskii: Russian, born in Saratov (Russia) January 18, 1933 S. Stringari: Italian, born in Tarcento (Italy) March 2, 1949
