The Paradox of Bose-Einstein Condensation

Phil Attard

Published 2023-07-16Version 1

The paradox of Bose-Einstein condensation is that phenomena such as the $\lambda$-transition heat capacity and superfluid flow are macroscopic, whereas the occupancy of the ground state is microscopic. This contradiction is resolved with a simple derivation for ideal bosons that shows Bose-Einstein condensation is into multiple low-lying states, not just the ground state.