A Droplet State in an Interacting Two-Dimensional Electron System

TL;DR

This paper investigates the formation and stability of a droplet state in a 2D electron system with negative dielectric constant, exploring its potential link to the 2D metal-insulator transition.

Contribution

It provides energetic calculations demonstrating the stability of the droplet state and discusses its relevance to the 2D metal-insulator transition.

Findings

Droplet state can form in 2D electron systems with negative dielectric constant.

The droplet state involves coexistence of high-density liquid and low-density gas phases.

Potential connection between droplet state and metal-insulator transition observed in experiments.

Abstract

It is well known that the dielectric constant of two-dimensional (2D) electron system goes negative at low electron densities. A consequence of the negative dielectric constant could be the formation of the droplet state. The droplet state is a two-phase coexistence region of high density liquid and low density "gas". In this paper, we carry out energetic calculations to study the stability of the droplet ground state. The possible relevance of the droplet state to recently observed 2D metal-insulator transition is also discussed.