  We formulate a method to study two-body correlations in a system of N
identical bosons interacting via central two-body potentials. We use the
adiabatic hyperspherical approach and assume a Faddeev-like decomposition of
the wave function. For a fixed hyperradius we derive variationally an optimal
integro-differential equation for hyperangular eigenvalue and wave function.
This equation reduces substantially by assuming the interaction range much
smaller than the size of the N-body system. At most one-dimensional integrals
then remain. We view a Bose-Einstein condensate pictorially as a structure in
the landscape of the potential given as a function of the one-dimensional
hyperradial coordinate. The quantum states of the condensate can be located in
one of the two potential minima. We derive and discuss properties of the
solutions and illustrate with numerical results. The correlations lower the
interaction energy substantially. The new multi-body Efimov states are
solutions independent of details of the two-body potential. We compare with
mean-field results and available experimental data.
