arXiv · 1011.0856
Signatures of Wigner molecule formation in interacting Dirac fermion quantum dots
Abstract
We study $N$ interacting massless Dirac fermions confined in a two-dimensional quantum dot. Physical realizations of this problem include a graphene monolayer and the surface state of a strong topological insulator. We consider both a magnetic confinement and an infinite mass confinement. The ground state energy is computed as a function of the effective interaction parameter $α$ from the Hartree-Fock approximation and, alternatively, by employing the Müller exchange functional. For N=2, we compare those approximations to exact diagonalization results. The Hartree-Fock energies are highly accurate for the most relevant interaction range $α\alt 2$, but the Müller functional leads to an unphysical instability when $α\agt 0.756$. Up to 20 particles were studied using Hartree-Fock calculations. Wigner molecule formation was observed for strong but realistic interactions, accompanied by a rich peak structure in the addition energy spectrum.
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Tomi Paananen, Reinhold Egger, Heinz Siedentop. 2011-01-12. Signatures of Wigner molecule formation in interacting Dirac fermion quantum dots. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.83.085409
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