Symmetry of `molecular' configurations of interacting electrons in a quantum dot in strong magnetic fields

TL;DR

This paper develops a molecular description for electron configurations in quantum dots under high magnetic fields, revealing symmetry properties and energy behaviors for four to six electrons, including the effects of quantum mixing.

Contribution

It extends the molecular description to multiple electron numbers and incorporates quantum mixing to accurately reproduce ground-state energies.

Findings

Four-electron states alternate between two RVB-like configurations.

Five-electron configurations include ring and center electron arrangements.

Quantum mixing restores symmetry and improves energy accuracy for six electrons.

Abstract

A molecular description for magic-number configurations of interacting electrons in a quantum dot in high magnetic fields developed by one of the authors has been elaborated for four, five and six electron dots. For four electrons, the magic spin-singlet states are found to alternate between two different resonating valence bond (RVB)-like states. For the five-electron spin-polarized case, the molecular description is shown to work for the known phenomenon of magic-number sequences that correspond to both the N-fold symmetric ring configuration and a $(N-1)$-fold symmetric one with a center electron. A six-electron dot is shown here to have an additional feature in which inclusion of quantum mechanical mixing between classical configurations, which are deformed and degenerate, restores the N-fold symmetry and reproduces the ground-state energy accurately.