Interacting electrons in the Aharonov-Bohm interferometer

TL;DR

This paper provides a detailed microscopic analysis of quantum transport in the Aharonov-Bohm interferometer, incorporating electron interactions and elucidating the structure of edge states and their coupling, challenging existing phenomenological models.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive microscopic framework for understanding electron interactions and edge state structures in the AB interferometer, advancing beyond phenomenological approaches.

Findings

Detailed microscopic description of edge states and their coupling.

Analysis of compressible and incompressible strips formation.

Insights into the origin of unexpected AB periodicity.

Abstract

We present a microscopic picture of quantum transport in the Aharonov-Bohm (AB) interferometer taking into account electron interaction within the Hartree and the spin density functional theory approximations. We discuss the structure of the edge states for different number of the Landau levels in the leads, their coupling to the states in the central island and the formation of compressible/incompressible strips in the interferometer. Based on our results we discuss the existing theories of the unexpected AB periodicity, which essentially rely on specific phenomenological models of the states and their coupling in the interferometer. Our work provides a basis for such the theories, giving a detailed microscopic description of the propagating states and the global electrostatics in the system at hand.