Analytical canonical partition function of a quasi-one-dimensional system of hard disks.

Abstract

The exact canonical partition function of a hard disk system in a narrow quasi-one-dimensional pore of given length and width is derived analytically in the thermodynamic limit. As a result, the many body problem is reduced to solving the single transcendental equation. The pressures along and across the pore, distributions of contact distances along the pore, and disks' transverse coordinates are found analytically and presented in the whole density range for three different pore widths. The transition from the solidlike zigzag to the liquidlike state is found to be quite sharp in the density scale but shows no genuine singularity. This transition is quantitatively described by the distribution of zigzag's windows through which disks exchange their positions across the pore. The windowlike defects vanish only in the densely packed zigzag, which is in line with a continuous Kosterlitz-Thouless transition.