Eigenmodes and thermodynamics of a Coulomb chain in a harmonic potential

Abstract

The density of ions trapped in a harmonic potential in one dimension is not uniform. Consequently the eigenmodes are not phononlike waves. We calculate the long-wavelength modes in the continuum limit, and evaluate the density of states in the short-wavelength limit for chains of N>>1 ions. Remarkably, the results that are found analytically in the thermodynamic limit provide a good estimate of the spectrum of excitations of small chains down to few tens of ions. The spectra are used to compute the thermodynamic functions of the chain. Deviations from the extensivity of the thermodynamic quantities are found. An analytic expression for the critical transverse frequency determining the stability of a linear chain is derived.