[contravariant]

>On an unrelated note, its interesting to see the Riemann zeta function turn up here. Does anyone know why it cropped up here, in the critical temperature equation? The page on Bose-Einstein statistics[1] doesn't seem to include it at all.

A complete derivation is beyond me at the moment but if you look at the equation in the section on the non-interacting Bose Einstein's gas [2] you'll note that they provide an equation for the critical point, the right hand side of which is quite similar to the integral definition of the Riemann Zeta function [3]. This is the likely origin of the Riemann Zeta function.

[2]:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bose%E2%80%93Einstein_condensa... [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riemann_zeta_function#Definiti...

[sdenton4]

Qua? I believe the zeta function goes back to 1859, and arose in number theory... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Number_of_Primes_Less...

[contravariant]

I meant that it's the reason the Zeta function appears in the formula, not that it is the original reason for the Zeta function to exist.

[sdenton4]

Ah, sorry!