Dimensional crossover of nonrelativistic bosons

Abstract

We investigate how confining a transverse spatial dimension influences the few- and many-body properties of non-relativistic bosons with pointlike interactions. Our main focus is on the dimensional crossover from three to two dimensions, which is of relevance for ultracold atom experiments. Using Functional Renormalization Group equations and T-matrix calculations we study how the phase transition temperature changes as a function of the spatial extent of the transverse dimension and relate the 3D and 2D s-wave scattering lengths. The analysis reveals how the properties of the lower-dimensional system are inherited from the higher-dimensional one during the renormalization group evolution. We limit the discussion to confinements in a potential well with periodic boundary conditions and argue why this qualitatively captures the physics of other compactifications such as transverse harmonic confinement as in cold atom experiments.