The Ideal Bose — Einstein Gas , Revisited

Some questions concerning the ideal Bose—Einstein gas are reviewed and examined further. The bulk behavior including the condensation phenomenon is characterized by the thermodynamical properties, occupations of the states and their fluctuations, and the properties of the density matrices, including the diagonal and off-diagonal long range orders. Particular attention is focused on the difference between the canonical and grand canonical ensembles and a case is made that the latter does not represent any physical system in the condensed region. The properties in a finite region are also examined to study the approach to the bulk limit and secondly to derive the surface properties such as the surface tension (due to the boundary). This is mainly done for the special case of a rectangular parallelopiped (box) for various boundary conditions. The question of the asymptotic behavior of the fluctuations in the occupation of the ground state in the condensed region in the canonical ensemble is examined for these systems. Finally, the local properties near the wall of a half infinite system are calculated and discussed. The surface properties also follow this way and agree with the strictly thermodynamic result. Although it is not intended to be a complete review, it is largely selfcontained, with the first section containing the basic formulas and a discussion of some general concepts which will be needed. Especially discussed in detail are the extra considerations that are needed in thermodynamics and statistical mechanics to include the surface properties, and the quantum hierarchy of the density matrices and local conservation laws. In the concluding remarks several problems are mentioned which need further analysis and clarification.