Heat Capacity Anomalies and Thermal Crossovers in Finite Su-Schrieffer-Heeger Chains

Abstract

We investigate the thermodynamic properties of finite Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) chains in thermal equilibrium at fixed temperature and chemical potential. Using the canonical and grand canonical ensembles, we calculate the energy density, particle number density, entropy, and heat capacity as functions of temperature, chemical potential, and hopping asymmetry. Our analysis reveals a double-peak anomaly in the heat capacity for non-dimerized configurations, in which two maxima are separated by a local minimum. We identify this feature as a Schottky-type thermal crossover governed by two distinct energy scales. The anomaly is most pronounced when the chemical potential is comparable to the band scale, and its two maxima separate further as the hopping asymmetry increases and the chain length grows, reflecting the widening gap between the two energy scales and the increasing density of states. We demonstrate that while the topological properties are determined by boundary states, the bulk thermodynamic behavior exhibits a rich crossover structure that can be tuned through the hopping parameter ratio. These findings provide insights into the interplay between topology, finite-size effects, and thermal fluctuations in one-dimensional topological systems, with potential implications for experimental realizations in cold atoms, photonic systems, and topoelectrical circuits.