Bose-Einstein Physics.
(ˌbəʊzˈaɪnstaɪn)
[The names of S. N. Bose (see boson) and Albert Einstein (1879–1955), German-born American physicist.]
Bose-Einstein condensation, in a system of bosons, the existence of a proportion of the particles in a zero-energy state when the temperature is below a certain value; Bose-Einstein particle = boson; Bose-Einstein statistics, a type of quantum statistics used with systems of indistinguishable particles which have the property that any number can occupy the same quantum state; cf. Fermi-Dirac statistics.
| 1928 Proc. Physical Soc. XL. 329 In the Bose-Einstein statistics λ is essentially positive. 1938 Physical Rev. LIV. 947 (heading) On the Bose-Einstein condensation. 1948 Mott & Sneddon Wave Mech. & its Applications xi. 354 Field theory for Bose-Einstein particles. 1955 H. B. G. Casimir in W. Pauli Niels Bohr 131 The remarkable feature of Bose-Einstein condensation is that a sizable fraction of the particles is forced by the statistics into..a state which should have curious and essentially non-classical properties. 1968 C. G. Kuper Introd. Theory Superconductivity ix. 156 A collection of particles obeying Bose-Einstein statistics has a wave function which is symmetrical under the interchange of any two particles. |
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▸ Bose–Einstein condensate n. a collection of atoms that behaves as a single quantum entity as a result of all the atoms being in the same low-energy quantum state.
| 1970 Physical Rev. A 1 86 Including the zero-point motion in the wave function tends to lower the energy,..and slightly decreases the *Bose-Einstein condensate fraction. 1990 D. Zohar Quantum Self vi. 67 When cell membranes vibrate sufficiently to pull themselves into a Bose-Einstein condensate, they are creating the most coherent form of order possible in Nature, the order of unbroken wholeness. 1995 New Scientist 22 July 16/3, 170 billionths of a degree above absolute zero some 2000 atoms formed a clump of Bose-Einstein condensate less then 100 micrometres across. |