The Crossover between Liquid and Solid Electron Phases in Quantum Dots: A Large-Scale Configuration-Interaction Study

TL;DR

This paper investigates the transition from liquid to solid electron phases in quantum dots using large-scale configuration interaction calculations, revealing the emergence of geometrically ordered phases as electron density decreases.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive large-scale CI approach to study phase crossover in quantum dots, highlighting the formation of ordered phases at low densities.

Findings

Identification of geometrically ordered phases at low electron densities

Charge distributions and pair correlation functions indicate phase crossover

Large-scale CI effectively captures electron phase behavior in quantum dots

Abstract

We study the crossover between liquid and solid electron phases in a two-dimensional harmonic trap as the density is progressively diluted. We infer the formation of geometrically ordered phases from charge distributions and pair correlation functions obtained via a large scale configuration interaction calculation.