Does BE condensate release or abort energies?

garyfang

When a system of particles condensates, are energy released or aborted?
Is energy required to condensate a bunch of particles? In one example, if you were to shrink the volume these particles should occupy by exerting pressure to the container, energy is required. Where do these energies go when materials become condensated?

mfb

To create a Bose-Einstein condensate, you have to cool the material - the energy goes into photons (laser cooling), hot evaporating atoms (evaporative cooling), potential energy or other things.
I don't think I get the main question of your post.

jaketodd

I think you are asking about condensing a system of particles. I think the conservation of energy rule gives you your answer: The initial energy of the system of particles, plus the energy you put into the system of particles by condensing it, will result in the final (larger) energy of the system compared to its initial energy.

Jake

DrDu

You do not put energy into the system by condensing it.
Consider a system of noninteracting bosons. The condensation means that the ground state becomes macroscopically occupied. In the limit of full condensation, the ground state is fully occupied. As this is also the lowest energy state of the whole system, energy is released during condensation.

jaketodd

You're probably right, but I was thinking of the energy you put into confining the particles would add kinetic energy as the walls close in, so to speak.