  We investigate the dependence of the structural phase transitions in an
infinite quasi-one-dimensional system of repulsively interacting particles on
the profile of the confining channel. Three different functional expressions
for the confinement potential related to real experimental systems are used
that can be tuned continuously from a parabolic to a hard-wall potential in
order to find a thorough understanding of the ordering of the chain-like
structure transitions. We resolve the longstanding issue why the most theories
predicted a 1-2-4-3-4 sequence of chain configurations with increasing density,
while some experiments found the 1-2-3-4 sequence.

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics