| Issue |
EPL
Volume 111, Number 2, July 2015
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 20004 | |
| Number of page(s) | 6 | |
| Section | General | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/111/20004 | |
| Published online | 06 August 2015 | |
The grand canonical catastrophe as an instance of condensation of fluctuations
Dipartimento di Fisica E. Caianiello and CNISM, Unità di Salerno, Università di Salerno - via Giovanni Paolo II, 84084 Fisciano (SA), Italy
Received: 30 March 2015
Accepted: 16 July 2015
The so-called grand canonical catastrophe of the density fluctuations in the ideal Bose gas is shown to be a particular instance of the much more general phenomenon of condensation of fluctuations, taking place in a large system, in or out of equilibrium, when a single degree of freedom makes a macroscopic contribution to the fluctuations of an extensive quantity. The pathological character of the “catastrophe” is demystified by emphasizing the connection between experimental conditions and statistical ensembles, as demonstrated by the recent realization of photon condensation under grand canonical conditions.
PACS: 05.40.-a – Fluctuation phenomena, random processes, noise, and Brownian motion / 05.30.Jp – Boson systems / 05.30.Ch – Quantum ensemble theory
© EPLA, 2015
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