Electron correlation and confinement effects in quasi-one-dimensional quantum wires at high density

Abstract

We study the ground-state properties of ferromagnetic quasi-one-dimensional quantum wires using the quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) method for various wire widths $b$ and density parameters $r_\text{s}$. The correlation energy, pair-correlation function, static structure factor, and momentum density are calculated at high density, $r_\text{s}=0.5$. It is observed that the peak in the static structure factor at $k=2k_\text{F}$ grows as the wire width decreases. We obtain the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid parameter $K_\rho$ from the momentum density. It is found that $K_\rho$ increases by about $10$\% between wire widths $b=0.01$ and $b=0.5$. We also obtain ground-state properties of finite thickness wires theoretically using the first-order random phase approximation (RPA) with exchange and self-energy contributions, which is exact in the high-density limit. Analytical expressions for the static structure factor and correlation energy are derived for $b \ll r_\text{s}<1$. It is found that the correlation energy varies as $b^2$ for $b \ll r_\text{s}$ from its value for an infinitely thin wire. It is observed that the correlation energy depends significantly on the wire model used (harmonic versus cylindrical confinement). The first-order RPA expressions for the structure factor, pair-correlation function, and correlation energy are numerically evaluated for several values of $b$ and $r_\text{s} \leq 1$. These are compared with the QMC results in the range of applicability of the theory.