Properties of the one-component Coulomb gas on a sphere with two macroscopic external charges

Abstract

The one-component Coulomb gas on the sphere, consisting on $N$ unit charges interacting via a logarithmic potential, and in the presence of two external charges each of strength proportional to $N$, is considered. There are two spherical caps naturally associated with the external charges, giving rise to two distinct phases depending on them not overlapping (post-critical) or overlapping (pre-critical). The equilibrium measure in the post-critical phase is known from earlier work. We determine the equilibrium measure in the pre-critical phase using a particular conformal map, with the parameters therein specified in terms of a root of a certain fourth order polynomial. This is used to determine the exact form of the electrostatic energy for the pre-critical phase. Using a duality relation from random matrix theory, the partition function for the Coulomb gas at the inverse temperature $\beta =2$ can be expanded for large $N$ in the post-critical phase, and in a scaling region of the post and pre-critical boundary. For the pre-critical phase, the duality identity implies a relation between two electrostatic energies, one for the present sphere system, and the other for a certain constrained log-gas relating to the Jacobi unitary ensemble.

38 pages, 5 figures