BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATION OF ATOMIC GASES IN A GENERAL HARMONIC-OSCILLATOR CONFINING POTENTIAL TRAP

We present an analysis of Bose-Einstein condensation for a system of n oninteracting spin-0 particles in a harmonic-oscillator confining pote ntial trap. We discuss why a confined system of particles differs both qualitatively and quantitatively from an identical system which is no t confined. One crucial difference is that a confined system is not ch aracterized by a critical temperature in the same way as an unconfined system such as the free boson gas. We present the results of both a n umerical and analytic analysis of the problem of Bose-Einstein condens ation in a general anisotropic harmonic-oscillator confining potential .