The classical harmonic chain: solution via Laplace transforms and continued fractions

Abstract: The harmonic chain is a classical many-particle system which can be solved exactly for arbitrary number of particles (at least in simple cases, such as equal masses and spring constants). A nice feature of the harmonic chain is that the final result for the displacements of the individual particles can be easily understood -- therefore, this example fits well into a course of classical mechanics for undergraduates. Here we show how to calculate the displacements by solving equations of motion for the Laplace transforms $\mathcal{L}\left{q_n\right}(s)$ of the displacements $q_n(t)$. This leads to a continued fraction representation of the Laplace transforms which can be evaluated analytically. The inverse Laplace transform of $\mathcal{L}\left{q_n\right}(s)$ finally gives the displacements which generically have the form of Bessel functions. We also comment on the similarities between this approach and the Green function method for quantum many-particle systems.