After the discovery of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) in trapped clouds of alkali atoms, the field of ultra-cold gases is strongly expanding. It is expected that the investigation of macroscopic quantum phenomena in these gases will have a profound effect on Condensed Matter and Atomic Physics and, in fact, will create new links between these two branches of physics. This project brings together leading NIS theoreticians and distinguished groups from the European Union, working in the field and having their background in both Condensed Matter and Atomic Physics. The common denominator arises from important theoretical contribution of the NIS participants and the desire of the European Union participants to strengthen scientific interaction.

The project is aimed at the investigation of new and fundamental phenomena in confined Bose gases, where:
(a) The investigation of quantum kinetic phenomena will be focused on revealing the physical origin of damping and the loss of coherence in an evolving macroscopic quantum state (Bose condensate) and studying this phenomenon in trapped Bose-condensed gases. Another key issue to be investigated concerns the formation of quantum correlations in the course of the kinetics of Bose-Einstein condensation;
(b) The studies of superfluidity will include the analysis of the role of finite geometry and the kinetics of vortices for the manifestation of this phenomenon in trapped Bose-condensed gases. The influence of a spatially inhomogeneous magnetic field on coherence properties of superfluid electron-hole Bose gases will be investigated;
(c) BEC kinetics and the picture of collapse of a condensate in trapped gases with attractive interaction between particles will be investigated. The studies will also include the dynamics and kinetics of a Bose-condensed gas under the light (field)-induced change of the sign of the scattering length;
(d) Bose-Einstein condensation and the nature of superfluid phase transition in low-dimensional gases in confining potentials will be studied. The theory will be developed for both 1-d and 2-d gases, taking into account the discrete structure of quantum states. Detailed quantum-Monte-Carlo study of quasicondensation in two-dimensional interacting gases will be performed.