Generalized description of few-electron quantum dots at zero and nonzero magneticfields

Abstract

We introduce a generalized ground state variational wavefunction for parabolically confinedtwo-dimensional quantum dots that equally applies to both cases of weak (or zero) andstrong magnetic field. The wavefunction has a Laughlin-like form in the limit of infinitemagnetic field, but transforms into a Jastrow–Slater wavefunction at zero magnetic field.At intermediate magnetic fields (where a fraction of electrons is spin-reversed) itresembles Halperin’s spin-reversed wavefunction for the fractional quantum Halleffect. The properties of this variational wavefunction are illustrated for the caseof two-dimensional quantum dot helium (a system of two interacting electronsin a parabolic confinement potential) where we find the description to be anexcellent representation of the true ground state for the whole range of magneticfields.