TY - JOUR
T1 - Population switching and charge sensing in quantum dots
T2 - A case for a quantum phase transition
AU - Goldstein, Moshe
AU - Berkovits, Richard
AU - Gefen, Yuval
PY - 2010/6/3
Y1 - 2010/6/3
N2 - A broad and a narrow level of a quantum dot connected to two external leads may swap their respective occupancies as a function of an external gate voltage. By mapping this problem onto a multiflavored Coulomb gas we show that such population switching is not abrupt. However, trying to measure it by adding a third electrostatically coupled lead may render this switching an abrupt first order quantum phase transition. This is related to the interplay of the Mahan mechanism versus the Anderson orthogonality catastrophe, in similitude to the Fermi edge singularity. A concrete setup for experimental observation of this effect is also suggested.
AB - A broad and a narrow level of a quantum dot connected to two external leads may swap their respective occupancies as a function of an external gate voltage. By mapping this problem onto a multiflavored Coulomb gas we show that such population switching is not abrupt. However, trying to measure it by adding a third electrostatically coupled lead may render this switching an abrupt first order quantum phase transition. This is related to the interplay of the Mahan mechanism versus the Anderson orthogonality catastrophe, in similitude to the Fermi edge singularity. A concrete setup for experimental observation of this effect is also suggested.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77953171714&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.226805
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.226805
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AN - SCOPUS:77953171714
SN - 0031-9007
VL - 104
JO - Physical Review Letters
JF - Physical Review Letters
IS - 22
M1 - 226805
ER -