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suricat wrote:But, in an atmosphere of mixed gasses, where many gas compounds are made of different atoms, there can be no equilibrium in a quantum theory scenario! Can there?
Hi suricat, good to hear from you. Apologies for the following anologies. I think how to visualise this is to forget about compounds and different atoms and think about the set of discrete quantum energy states possible in the ensemble. Then analogise to a collection of catchers (atoms and molecules) with different sized hands fitted to catch and throw different specific sized balls(photons of a fixed set of frequencies). A catcher can only hold one ball and it must be a specific set of sizes at a time but can hold no ball as well. So you'll have either saturation when all catchers hold a ball so a sort of saturation equilibrium ie as soon as they throw one they catch another because there are plenty to catch.You'll also have a dynamic equilibrium where balls are being caught and thrown at the same rate but there is capacity to catch more balls if they are supplied and because you're dealing with large numbers there is a steady average energy equilibrium.
When it comes to BEC as I understand it this is a special state where the ensemble is Bosons (spin -1 particles) in their lowest quantum energy level and if you're dealing with bosons then there is a big restriction on the photon energies that can interact (the eigenvalues) for the particular Boson but the Pauli exclusion principle doesn't apply so similar states can coexist and I think this means multiple balls can be caught, held and thrown, refering back to the anology.
I couldn't find the dialogue on climateaudit to which you allude. As you'll see my knowledge and understanding is only cursory and possibly inadequate for your needs.