BEC from a time-dependent variational point of view

We use the time-dependent variational principle of Balian and Vénéroni to derive a set of equations governing the dynamics of a trapped Bose gas at finite temperature. We show that this dynamics generalizes the Gross-Pitaevskii equations in that it introduces a consistent dynamical coupling between the evolution of the condensate density, the thermal cloud, and the “anomalous” density.