Shannon Entropy as an Order Parameter for the Two-Dimensional Confined Coulomb Systems: Exact Balance Law, Topological Charge Sum Rule, and Boundary Saturation

Abstract

We establish a complete information-theoretic framework for the known minimum-energy configurations of the two-dimensional Thomson problem on a hard-wall disk, based on the Shannon entropy of the Voronoi topological charge distribution. Two exact results are proven and hold for all studied systems of size $N=12$-$10^5$. First, an entropy balance law decomposes the total entropy into bulk, boundary, and mixing contributions without approximation. Second, a topological charge sum rule fixes the total charge at twice the number of boundary particles plus six; together with the observed separation of bulk and boundary coordination numbers, it yields exact relations between the populations of three- and four-coordinated boundary particles and the bulk charge. We further prove that the boundary entropy is bounded by the binary maximum and that saturation of this bound is equivalent to the bulk charge per boundary particle approaching minus one half, a regime that the framework itself restricts to boundaries of at least twelve particles. All identities are verified numerically to machine precision, locating bulk nucleation at $56$ particles, the maximum of global disorder at $146$, and the onset of boundary saturation beyond about $1000$. The framework carries over to closed spherical geometry, where the total charge is fixed at twelve.