Artificial versus natural atoms: the uncanny capability of the many-body Schrödinger equation to produce emergent behavior
Abstract
The paper reviews the theoretical and experimental progress achieved in the last 25 years in understanding the novel physics of artificial atoms and molecules as arising from the formation of Wigner molecules (WMs) of localized (to a stronger or lesser extent) fermionic or bosonic particles, which are finite quantum analogs of the more familiar bulk Wigner crystal (WC). The term artificial atoms, as used here, encompasses a broad range of recently fabricated quantum nanodevices and experimental apparatuses consisting of a finite number of mutually repelling confined particles, including two-dimensional semiconductor and moiré transition metal dichalcogenide quantum dots, as well as trapped ultracold neutral atoms or ions. These nano-sized or micro-sized artificial devices and apparatuses (in single well or multi-well of variable-shape arrangements) hold a great promise for technological applications in the field of quantum information and quantum computers, as well as for advances in fundamental many-body physics. Prominent quantum effects of Wigner molecularization (WM) are the strong quenching of the spectral energy gaps, the appearance of rovibational spectra (in analogy with natural molecules), entanglement, and pinning due to an external perturbation. In high magnetic fields or at rapid rotation, Wigner molecules (WMs) provide an alternative theory to the fractional quantum Hall effect. The physics of WMs is shown to derive from the solutions of the many-body…
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