Phase transitions in a few-electron quantum dot in a magnetic field: Wigner phases and broken-symmetry spin-singlet states

Abstract

We develop a variational many-body approach within a second quantized formulation for a few-electron system in a parabolic two-dimensional quantum dot (QD). By way of application, the nature of the ground state of a two-electron system in a parabolic QD in a broad range of magnetic fields is theoretically investigated. Various phase transitions on the basis of the resulting analytical expressions for energy of the system have been investigated: First, the well-known transition from a maximum density droplet to a Wigner phase in a magnetic field is obtained, provided that the QD is in conditions of weak confinement. Furthermore, in the case of relatively strong QD confinement and weak magnetic fields, a rotationally symmetric spin-singlet state is the ground state of the system. However, in a strong magnetic field and for the same QD confinement, a broken-symmetry spin-singlet state appears to be energetically favored over the symmetric spin-singlet state. A first investigation of such a broken-symmetry spin-singlet phase in a QD in a magnetic field is shown to be an important application of the proposed technique. © 2008 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.