Bose–Einstein condensate
Sign in to savestate of matter of a dilute gas of bosons cooled to temperatures very near absolute zero
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A Bose-Einstein condensate is a state of matter that forms when certain types of particles called bosons are cooled to extremely low temperatures, just barely above absolute zero. At these ultra-cold conditions, the particles behave in unusual ways that reveal quantum mechanical properties that don't occur in everyday materials.
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Illustration of Bose-Einstein condensation: as the temperature of the ensemble of bosons is reduced, the overlap between the particles' wavefunctions increases as the thermal de Broglie wavelength increases. At one point, when the overlap becomes significant, a macroscopic number of particles condense into the ground state.
In condensed matter physics, a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) is a state of matter that is typically formed when a gas of bosons at very low densities is cooled to temperatures very close to absolute zero, i.e. 0 K (−273.15 °C; −459.67 °F). Under such conditions, a large fraction of bosons occupy the lowest quantum state, at which microscopic quantum-mechanical phenomena, particularly wavefunction interference, become apparent macroscopically. More generally, condensation refers to the appearance of macroscopic occupation of one or several states: for example, in BCS theory, a superconductor is a condensate of Cooper pairs. As such, condensation can be associated with phase transition, and the macroscopic occupation of the state is the order parameter.