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Difference in Bose-Einstein condensation of conserved and unconserved particles

The peculiarities in the Bose-Einstein condensation of particles and quasiparticles are discussed. The difference between the condensation of conserved and unconserved particles is analyzed. A classification of quasiparticles is given. The emphasis is made on the ability of particles and quasiparticles to condense. Illustrations include: general Bose-condensed atomic systems, such as ensembles of trapped atoms, Bose gases with conserved and unconserved number of atoms, vibrating atoms in double-well lattices, Holstein-Primakoff magnons, Schwinger bosons, slave bosons, and the condensation of singletons and triplons. The basic difference is that the system of particles, whose total number is conserved, can form equilibrium as well as nonequilibrium condensates, while unconserved particles can condense only in a nonequilibrium system subject to external pumping supporting the density of these particles sufficient for their condensation. The examples of such a nonequilibrium condensation of unconserved particles are the Bose-Einstein condensation of excitons, polaritons, and photons. Elementary collective excitations, such as bogolons and phonons, being self-consistently defined, do not condense. Magnons cannot condense in equilibrium systems. Controversies, existing in literature with regard to the Bose-Einstein condensation of some quasiparticles, are explained. Pushing a system out of equilibrium may favor the condensation of unconserved quasiparticles, but suppresses the condensate fraction of conserved particles.