Abstract
We present a self-contained operator-based approach to derive the spectrum of trapped ions. This approach provides the complete normal form of the low-energy quadratic Hamiltonian in terms of bosonic phonons, as well as an effective free-particle degree of freedom for each spontaneously broken spatial symmetry. We demonstrate how this formalism can directly be used to characterize an ion chain both in the linear and the zigzag regimes. In particular, we compute, both for the ground state and finite temperature states, spatial correlations, heat capacity, and dynamical susceptibility. Last, for the ground state, which has quantum correlations, we analyze the amount of energy reduction compared to an uncorrelated state with minimum energy, thus highlighting how the system can lower its energy by correlations.