Related papers: Symmetric patterns of dislocations in Thomson's pr…
We investigate Thomson's problem of charges on a sphere as an example of a system with complex interactions. Assuming certain symmetries we can work with a larger number of charges than before. We found that, when the number of charges is…
Given $N$ unit points charges on the surface of a unit conducting sphere, what configuration of charges minimizes the Coulombic energy $\sum_{i>j=1}^N 1/r_{ij}$? Due to an exponential rise in good local minima, finding global minima for…
The Thomson Problem, arrangement of identical charges on the surface of a sphere, has found many applications in physics, chemistry and biology. Here we show that the energy landscape of the Thomson Problem for $N$ particles with $N=132,…
The method of Morse theory is used to analyze the distributions of unit charges interacting through a repulsive force and constrained to move on the surface of a sphere -- the Thomson problem. We find that, due to topological reasons, the…
We investigate the classical ground state of a large number of charges confined inside a disk and interacting via the Coulomb potential. By realizing the important role that the peripheral charges play in determining the lowest energy…
Using numerical arguments we find that for $N$ = 306 a tetrahedral configuration ($T_h$) and for N=542 a dihedral configuration ($D_5$) are likely the global energy minimum for Thomson's problem of minimizing the energy of $N$ unit charges…
Thomson problem is a classical problem in physics to study how $n$ number of charged particles distribute themselves on the surface of a sphere of $k$ dimensions. When $k=2$, i.e. a 2-sphere (a circle), the particles appear at equally…
The classical Thomson problem of $n$ charged particles confined to the surface of a sphere of radius $a$ is analyzed within the Darwin approximation of electrodynamics. For $n<n_c(a)$ the ground state corresponds to a hexagonal Wigner…
We investigate the modifications brought about by the linear connectivity among charges in the classical Thomson problem. Instead of packing with local hexagonal order intersperced with topological defects, we find charge distributions with…
We investigate the low-energy configurations of N mutually repelling charges confined to a spherical cap and interacting via the Coulomb potential. In the continuum limit, this problem was solved by Lord Kelvin, who found a non-uniform…
A significantly lower upper limit to minimum energy solutions of the electrostatic Thomson Problem is reported. A point charge is introduced to the origin of each $N$-charge solution. This raises the total energy by $N$ as an upper limit to…
We propose and analyze an effective free energy describing the physics of disclination defects in particle arrays constrained to move on an arbitrary two-dimensional surface. At finite temperature the physics of interacting disclinations is…
We study a generalization of a Thomson problem of n particles confined to a sphere and interacting by a 1/r^g potential. It is found that for g \le 1 the electrostatic repulsion expels all the charges to the surface of the sphere. However…
Finding minimum energy distribution of $N$ charges on a sphere is known as the Thomson problem. Here, we study the vibrational properties of the $N$ charges in the lowest energy state within the harmonic approximation for $10\le N\le 200$…
To advance Thomson problem we generalize physical principles suggested by Caspar and Klug (CK) to model icosahedral capsids. Proposed simplest distortions of the CK spherical arrangements yield new-type trial structures very close to the…
Determination of \emph{optimal} arrangements of $N$ particles on a sphere is a well-known problem in physics. A famous example of such is the Thomson problem of finding equilibrium configurations of electrical charges on a sphere. More…
Systems of identical particles with equal charge are studied under a special type of confinement. These classical particles are free to move inside some convex region S and on the boundary of it $\Omega$ (the $S^{d-1}-$ sphere, in our…
We conducted a comprehensive numerical investigation of the energy landscape of the Thomson problem for systems up to $N=150$. Our results show the number of distinct configurations grows exponentially with $N$, but significantly faster…
Generalizing the classical Thomson problem to the quantum regime provides an ideal model to explore the underlying physics regarding electron correlations. In this work, we systematically investigate the combined effects of the geometry of…
Uniformly distributed point sets on the unit sphere with and without symmetry constraints have been found useful in many scientific and engineering applications. Here, a novel variant of the Thomson problem is proposed and formulated as an…