Renormalized energy and asymptotic expansion of optimal logarithmic energy on the sphere (Q1702110)

The authors study the Hamiltonian of a two-dimensional log-gas with a confining potential \(V\) satisfying the weak growth assumption. They prove an asymptotic expansion, as the number \(n\) of points goes to infinity, for the minimum of this Hamiltonian. It is shown that the asymptotic expansion as \(n\rightarrow +\infty\) of the minimal logarithmic energy of \(n\) points on the unit sphere in \(\mathbb{R}^3\) has a term of order \(n\), thus proving a long-standing conjecture of \textit{E. A. Rakhmanov} et al. [Math. Res. Lett. 1, No. 6, 647--662 (1994; Zbl 0839.31011)].