Boundary and particle number effects on the thermodynamic properties of trapped ideal Bose gases

The ideal noninteracting Bose gases trapped in a generic power-law potential in an any-dimensional space are studied. We present theoretical results of the corrections of thermodynamic properties due to finite particle number effects. The calculation uses the Euler-Maclaurin approximation to simplify the condensate fraction, and it also uses the Maslov index to discuss the boundary effect. Recently BEC (Bose-Einstein Condensation) has also been observed in a microelectronic chip; therefore, with a similar microstructure, we can obtain the effects of a rigid wall in a trap that have never been found before. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin/Heidelberg 2003