Interacting electrons on a quantum ring: exact and variational approach

TL;DR

This paper investigates interacting electrons on a quantum ring using exact and variational methods, assessing wave function accuracy and electron localization transition at high densities.

Contribution

It compares exact diagonalization and variational quantum Monte Carlo approaches, demonstrating the effectiveness of Slater-Jastrow wave functions in capturing correlation effects.

Findings

Slater-Jastrow wave function captures most correlation effects

Good agreement between exact and variational energies

Electron localization occurs at high density in ultrathin rings

Abstract

We study a system of interacting electrons on a one-dimensional quantum ring using exact diagonalization and the variational quantum Monte Carlo method. We examine the accuracy of the Slater-Jastrow -type many-body wave function and compare energies and pair distribution functions obtained from the two approaches. Our results show that this wave function captures most correlation effects. We then study the smooth transition to a regime where the electrons localize in the rotating frame, which for the ultrathin quantum ring system happens at quite high electron density.