The center-of-mass response of confined systems

For confined systems of identical particles, either bosons or fermions, we argue that the parabolic nature of the confinement potential is a prerequisite for the non-dissipative character of the center of mass response to a uniform probe. For an excitation in a parabolic confining potential, the half width of the density response function depends nevertheless quantitatively on properties of the internal degrees of freedom, as is illustrated here for an ideal confined gas of identical particles with harmonic interparticle interactions.