
Bose–Einstein Condensate - sarego
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bose%E2%80%93Einstein_condensate
======
eindiran
At the beginning of the article, it mentions the phrase "the 5th state of
matter", which I've heard before; personally, I find it quite misleading. Even
if you exclude all of the intermediary states and all of the non-classical
states (things like glasses and liquid crystals), there are a lot of exotic
states of matter. The Wikipedia page for "States of matter" includes a lot of
them[0]. Though perhaps the idea is that there is something fundamental enough
about the Bode-Einstein condensate that it should count as the fifth
_fundamental_ state of matter?

On an unrelated note, its interesting to see the Riemann zeta function turn up
here. Does anyone know why it cropped up here, in the critical temperature
equation? The page on Bose-Einstein statistics[1] doesn't seem to include it
at all.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_matter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_matter)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bose%E2%80%93Einstein_statisti...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bose%E2%80%93Einstein_statistics)

EDIT:

This paper seems to provide some insight into the latter question -
[https://arxiv.org/abs/1101.3116](https://arxiv.org/abs/1101.3116)

~~~
contravariant
>On an unrelated note, its interesting to see the Riemann zeta function turn
up here. Does anyone know why it cropped up here, in the critical temperature
equation? The page on Bose-Einstein statistics[1] doesn't seem to include it
at all.

A complete derivation is beyond me at the moment but if you look at the
equation in the section on the non-interacting Bose Einstein's gas [2] you'll
note that they provide an equation for the critical point, the right hand side
of which is quite similar to the integral definition of the Riemann Zeta
function [3]. This is the likely origin of the Riemann Zeta function.

[2]:[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bose%E2%80%93Einstein_condensa...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bose%E2%80%93Einstein_condensate#Bose_Einstein's_non-
interacting_gas) [3]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riemann_zeta_function#Definiti...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riemann_zeta_function#Definition)

~~~
sdenton4
Qua? I believe the zeta function goes back to 1859, and arose in number
theory...
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Number_of_Primes_Less...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Number_of_Primes_Less_Than_a_Given_Magnitude)

~~~
contravariant
I meant that it's the reason the Zeta function appears in the formula, not
that it is the original reason for the Zeta function to exist.

~~~
sdenton4
Ah, sorry!

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chmaynard
A related blog post by Dr. John Baez:

[https://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2020/01/31/superfluid-q...](https://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2020/01/31/superfluid-
quasicrystals/)

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codeulike
Roger Penrose, in Shadows of the Mind, reckoned Bose-Einstein condensates in
the microtubules of neurons might be the engine of consciousness.

Apart from the weird quantum stuff, another interesting part of that
perspective is that neurons are made up of countless microtubules and it might
be the microtubules that are the basic computation unit of the brain. So then
you can think of each neuron as a processor in its own right, and the
computational complexity of the brain might be an order of magnitude higher
than commonly supposed.

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michwill
What I really look forward with BECs (although simple atomic interferometers
based on ultracold atoms would do, too) is super-sensitive magnetic field
detection.

One can detect magnetic fields from a shielded laptop, even many meters away,
and figure out what's happening inside (e.g. leaking secrets etc).

I think, not a terribly difficult experiment, but nobody has performed it:
need ultracool physicists and hackers in one lab room

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KingFelix
BECs are interesting. Currently working on getting a project funded, lots of
interesting answers may come from it.

Anyone working with BECs?

~~~
dannylandau
Can you provide some details? I'm in Boulder Colorado where Cornell Wieman
created the first condensate and won a nifty prize for it.

~~~
tobmlt
Greetings from the Denver tech center! Condensed matter is awesome. I wish I
was more than a fan/self study neophyte. Good luck to you!

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galaxyLogic
Just don't let it loose

