The two-dimensional Coulomb gas on a sphere: Exact results

Abstract

At the special value of the reduced inverse temperature Γ=2, the equilibrium statistical mechanics of a two-dimensional Coulomb gas confined to the surface of a sphere is an exactly solvable problem, just as it was for the Coulomb gas in a plane. The thermodynamic quantities and all the correlation functions can be calculated. Use is made of an isomorphism between the classical Coulomb gas and the free Fermi field theory associated with the Dirac operator on the sphere. © 1992 Plenum Publishing Corporation.