Path-integral ground state and superfluid hydrodynamics of a bosonic gas of hard spheres

Abstract

We study a bosonic gas of hard spheres by using the exact zero-temperature path-integral ground-state (PIGS) Monte Carlo method and the equations of superfluid hydrodynamics. The PIGS method is implemented to calculate for the bulk system the energy per particle and the condensate fraction through a large range of the gas parameter $n{a}^{3}$ (with $n$ the number density and $a$ the $s$-wave scattering length), going from the dilute gas into the solid phase. The Maxwell construction is then adopted to determine the freezing at $n{a}^{3}=0.264\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.003$ and the melting at $n{a}^{3}=0.290\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.003$. In the liquid phase, where the condensate fraction is finite, the equations of superfluid hydrodynamics, based on the PIGS equation of state, are used to find other relevant quantities as a function of the gas parameter: the chemical potential, the pressure, and the sound velocity. In addition, within Feynman's approximation, from the PIGS static structure factor we determine the full excitation spectrum, which displays a maxon-roton behavior when the gas parameter is close to the freezing value. Finally, the equations of superfluid hydrodynamics with the PIGS equation of state are solved for the bosonic system under axially symmetric harmonic confinement obtaining its collective breathing modes.