Description of the three phases of water regarded as Bose-Einstein condensates

François Fillaux

Published 2023-06-11Version 1

The pivotal reason why many physical properties of water are notoriously at odd with Boltzmann's statistics is that the states of equilibrium of H$_2$O are Bose-Einstein-condensates -- free of quantum and statistical fluctuations -- protected against depletion by the modest dissociation threshold of the H-bonds. Indeed, condensates support a line of reasoning proceeding from the laws of quantum mechanics to macroscopic phenomena, with no quantum-to-classical discontinuity and no arbitrary hypothesis. The phases of water are two-level systems, with or without tunneling splittings of second order. The heat capacity indicates departure from equipartition of energy due to entanglement. The thermal energy of every phase is determined by occupation numbers and a phase transition occurs whenever molecules bunch into either level. The latent heats mirror changes of the number of degenerate condensates and of the H-bonds. The structures of the three phases are isomorphic hexagonal lattices. This case study demonstrates existence of condensates for the three phases of the matter in an everyday environment.