THERMODYNAMICS OF THE TODA CHAIN

Abstract

A review of the classical and quantum thermodynamic properties of the Toda chain is provided, together with a survey of the techniques that have been used to work them out, i.e., the bilateral Laplace transform method for the classical system, the Bethe–Ansatz and the variational path-integral approach for the quantum one. For the classical Toda chain we also recall some of the main dynamical features, i.e. the integrability of the model and the soliton-like solutions of the equations of motion. In the quantum case a comparison between the Bethe–Ansatz and the variational method is made. In particular it is shown as the latter offers the possibility of also evaluating static correlation functions.