The heterogeneous gas with singular interaction: Generalized circular law and heterogeneous renormalized energy

We introduce and analyze d-dimensional Coulomb gases with random charge distribution and general external confining potential. We show that these gases satisfy a large-deviation principle. The analysis of the minima of the rate function (which is the leading term of the energy) reveals that, at equilibrium, the particle distribution is a generalized circular law (i.e. with spherical support but not necessarily uniform distribution). In the classical electrostatic external potential, there are infinitely many minimizers of the rate function. The most likely macroscopic configuration is a disordered distribution in which particles are uniformly distributed (for d = 2, the circular law), and charges are independent of the positions of the particles. General charge-dependent confining potentials unfold this degenerate situation: in contrast, the particle density is not uniform, and particles spontaneously organize according to their charge. In this picture the classical electrostatic potential appears as a transition at which order is lost. Sub-leading terms of the energy are derived: we show that these are related to an operator, generalizing the Coulomb renormalized energy, which incorporates the heterogeneous nature of the charges. This heterogeneous renormalized energy informs us about the microscopic arrangements of the particles, which are non-standard, strongly dependent on the charges, and include progressive and irregular lattices.