In 1925 Einstein predicted that at low temperatures particles in a gas could all reside in the same quantum state. This gaseous state, a Bose–Einstein condensate, was produced in the laboratory for the first time in 1995 and investigating such condensates has become one of the most active areas in contemporary physics. The study of Bose–Einstein condensates in dilute gases encompasses a number of different subfields of physics, including atomic, condensed matter, and nuclear physics. The authors of this graduate-level textbook explain this exciting new subject in terms of basic physical principles, without assuming detailed knowledge of any of these subfields. Chapters cover the statistical physics of trapped gases, atomic properties, cooling and trapping atoms, interatomic interactions, structure of trapped condensates, collective modes, rotating condensates, superfluidity, interference phenomena, and trapped Fermi gases. Problem sets are also included in each chapter.

‘Bose–Einstein Condensation in Dilute Gases is an excellent and much-needed text of the theory of these condensates … Although progress continues at a cracking pace, there is now a set of basic notions that it is sensible to teach postgraduates, including the way that condensates are made and their physical properties as macroscopic quantum systems. This book is an excellent source of information on this topic, and is accessible to a wide range of physicists and chemists … likely to be a best seller in its category. This well-produced book is a ‘must buy’ for anyone wanting to get started in this field.’

Keith Burnett Source: Nature

'It is an excellent text, a broad survey with some in-depth discussions. The book is meant to be introductory, but the authors - world experts in transport phenomena - offer sophisticated discussions of such nonequilibrium processes as evaporative cooling.'

Source: Physics Today