Equivalence of the master equation approach to the canonical ensemble approach for an ideal Bose gas

A picture of the condensate statistics of a confined Bose gas, which is mor e relevant to recent experimental realizations, can be obtained by the cano nical ensemble approach. Nevertheless, handling the particle number conserv ation condition entering therein is a formidable task. A recent method deve loped to deal with this problem is a non-equilibrium master equation approa ch based on the quantum theory of laser. We show here how the equilibrium s olution of this master equation is faithful to the canonical ensemble. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.