Equivalence of kinetic theories of Bose-Einstein condensation

We discuss the equivalence of two nonequilibrium kinetic theories that describe the evolution of a dilute, Bose-Einstein condensed atomic gas in a harmonic trap. The second-order kinetic equations of Walser et al. [Phys. Rev. A 63, 013607 (2001)] reduce to the Gross-Pitaevskii equation and the quantum Boltzmann equation in the low- and high-temperature limits, respectively. These kinetic equations thus describe the system in equilibrium (finite temperature) as well as in nonequilibrium (real time). We have found this theory to be equivalent to the nonequilibrium Green’s function approach originally proposed by Kadanoff and Baym and more recently applied to inhomogeneous trapped systems by Imamović-Tomasović and Griffin [in Progress in Nonequilibrium Green’s Functions, edited by M. Bonitz (World Scientific, Singapore, 2000), p. 404].