Equilibria of three constrained point charges

Abstract

We study the critical points of Coulomb energy considered as a function on configuration spaces associated with certain geometric constraints. Two settings of such kind are discussed in some detail. The first setting arises by considering polygons of fixed perimeter with freely sliding positively charged vertices. The second one is concerned with triples of positive charges constrained to three concentric circles. In each of these cases the Coulomb energy is generically a Morse function. We describe the minima and other stationary points of Coulomb energy and show that, for three charges, a pitchfork bifurcation takes place accompanied by an effect of the Euler's Buckling Beam type.