Bose-Einstein Condensation and Superfluidity

Ultracold atomic gases is a rapidly developing area of physics that attracts many young researchers around the world. Written by world renowned experts in the field, this book gives a comprehensive overview of exciting developments in Bose-Einstein condensation and superfluidity from a theoretical perspective. The authors also make sense of key experiments from the past twenty years with a special focus on the physics of ultracold atomic gases. These systems are characterized by a rich variety of features which make them similar to other important systems of condensed matter physics (like superconductors and superfluids). At the same time they exhibit very peculiar properties which are the result of their gaseous nature, the possibility of trapping in a variety of low dimensional and periodical configurations, and of manipulating the two-body interaction. The book presents a systematic theoretical description based on the most successful many-body approaches applied both to bosons and fermions, at equilibrium and out of equilibrium, at zero as well as at finite temperature. Both theorists and experimentalists will benefit from the book, which is mainly addressed to beginners in the field (master students, PhD students, young postdocs), but also to more experienced researchers who can find in the book novel inspirations and motivations as well as new insightful connections. Building on the authors' first book, Bose-Einstein Condensation (Oxford University Press, 2003), this text offers a more systematic description of Fermi gases, quantum mixtures, low dimensional systems and dipolar gases. It also gives further emphasis on the peculiar phenomenon of superfluidity and its key role in many observable properties of these ultracold quantum gases.

Sandro Stringari is a full professor at the University of Trento and member of the CNR Trento research center on Bose-Einstein Condensation. After his studies at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa he started his scientific career in the field of nuclear physics, quantum clusters and quantum fluids. He is an expert in the theory of ultracold atomic gases where he made important contributions on their dynamic and superfluid behavior. He worked, as invited scientist, at the Department of Theoretical Physics in Oxford and at the Institut de Physique Nucléaire in Orsay . In the year 2004/05 he held the European Chair at the College de France in Paris. Sandro Stringari has been the organizer of several conferences and schools in different domains of physics. He is corresponding member of the Italian Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. Lev P. Pitaevskii is a researcher at the CNR Trento research center on Bose-Einstein Condensation and at the Kapitza Institute for Physical Problems in Moscow. He was educated at Saratov University (Russia) and worked at the Institute for Physical Problems and also at Technion (Haifa, Israel). He has worked at the University of Trento since 1998. His main expertise is in the theory of superfluidity, Bose-Einsten condensation, Van der Waals forces and plasma physics. He is co-author of the books Quantum Electrodynamics, Statistical Physics, Part II (Condensed Matter Theory) and Physical Kinetics, which are part of the Landau-Lifshitz Course of Theoretical Physics. He is a full Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.