THERMODYNAMICS OF THE TODA CHAIN

A review of the classical and quantum thermodynamic properties of the Toda chain is provided, together with a survey of the techniques that have been used to work them out, i.e., the bilateral Laplace transform method for the classical system, the Bethe-Ansatz and the variational path-integral approach for the quantum one. For the classical Toda ch ain we also recall some of the main dynamical features, i.e. the integ rability of the model and the soliton-like solutions of the equations of motion. In the quantum case a comparison between the Bethe-Ansatz a nd the variational method is made. In particular it is shown as the la tter offers the possibility of also evaluating static correlation func tions.