The relation between Feynman cycles and off-diagonal long-range order

Daniel Ueltschi

Published 2006-03-31, updated 2006-08-23Version 3

The usual order parameter for the Bose-Einstein condensation involves the off-diagonal correlation function of Penrose and Onsager, but an alternative is Feynman's notion of infinite cycles. We present a formula that relates both order parameters. We discuss its validity with the help of rigorous results and heuristic arguments. The conclusion is that infinite cycles do not always represent the Bose condensate.