Zeitabhängige Berechnung eines Bose-Einstein-Kondensats
The term Bose-Einstein condensate describes a state of matter in which atoms or elementary particles combine into a single quantum mechanical object during extreme cooling. Science does not yet fully understand exactly how these macroscopic states - beyond the confines of traditional physics - develop from a thermal atomic cloud in just a few milliseconds and when statistical equilibrium is reached, according to Georg Wolschin. Using a new theoretical model he developed, the Heidelberg University physicist has now succeeded in calculating the time-dependent formation of a Bose-Einstein condensate in sodium atoms. When a Bose-Einstein condensate develops, bosonic atoms - with an integer spin - form a gas that condenses at extremely cold temperatures approaching -273.5 degrees Celsius, or absolute zero. This phenomenon in theoretical physics was postulated in 1924 by Albert Einstein based on a theory by Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose and proven experimentally in 1995. "To understand the processes involved in the formation of this condensate, the percentage of condensate atoms must be calculated as a function of time, which requires substantial mathematical effort," explains Prof. Wolschin. The researcher developed a model that can be applied to sodium-23 and other bosonic atoms.
