Buckling of a linear chain of hard spheres in a harmonic confining potential: Numerical and analytical results for low and high compression

We extend a previous analysis of the buckling properties of a linear chain of hard spheres between hard walls under transverse harmonic confinement. Two regimes are distinguished-low compression, for which the entire chain buckles, and higher compression, for which there is localized buckling. With further increase of compression, second-neighbor contacts occur; beyond this compression the structure is no longer planar, and is not treated here. A continuous model is developed which is amenable to analytical solution in the low compression regime. This is helpful in understanding the scaling properties of both finite and infinite chains.