Why a Bose–Einstein condensate cannot exist in a system of interacting bosons at ultrahigh temperatures

Abstract

It is well known that a Bose–Einstein (BE) condensate of atoms exists in a system of interacting Bose atoms at T ≲ T_c^(i), where T_c^(i) is the BE condensation temperature of an ideal gas. It is also generally accepted that BE condensation is impossible at “ultrahigh” temperatures T ≫ T_c^(i). While the latter property has been theoretically proven for an ideal gas, no such proof exists for an interacting system, to our knowledge. In this paper, we propose an approximate mathematical proof for a finite, nonrelativistic, periodic system of N spinless interacting bosons. The key point is that, at T ≫ T_c^(i), the main contribution to the occupation number N_0 = (1/Z) Σ_℘ e^(-E_℘/k_B T) ⟨Ψ_℘ | â_0^+ â_0 | Ψ_℘⟩, corresponding to atoms with zero momentum, originates from the states containing N elementary quasiparticles. These states do not contain the BE condensate of zero-momentum atoms, implying that an ultrahigh temperature should “blur” such a condensate.