Equivalent Linear Two-Body Equations for Many-Body Systems

A method has been developed for obtaining equivalent linear two-body equations (ELTBE) for the system of many ($N$) bosons using the variational principle. The method has been applied to the one-dimensional N-body problem with pair-wise contact interactions (McGurie-Yang N-body problem) and to the dilute Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of atoms in anisotropic harmonic traps at zero temperature. For both cases, it is shown that the method gives excellent results for large N.