Abstract: A uniform ground-state three-dimensional Fermi gas with short-range repulsive pairwise interaction is under consideration. Its kinetic and interaction energies are calculated up to the second order of the expansion in the gas parameter. Similar to recent results for an interacting Bose gas, the quantities in question are found to depend on the pairwise interaction through two characteristic lengths: the former, a, is the s-wave scattering length, and the latter, b, is related to a by b=a-m(partial derivativea/partial derivativem), where m stands for the fermion mass. To control the results, we proceed in two independent ways. The first involves the Hellmann-Feynman theorem applied to derive the kinetic and interaction energies from the total-energy expansion in the gas parameter first found by Huang and Yang. The second way operates with in-medium pair wave functions and allows one to calculate the quantities of interest “from scratch.” The results of the present investigation, taken together with those of the recent consideration of a dilute Bose gas, make it possible to conclude that the pairwise interaction in a quantum gas has an essential and nontrivial effect on the kinetic energy, which is not the case for a classical many-particle system.

Abstract: Small numbers N < 5 of two-dimensional Coulomb-interacting electrons trapped in a parabolic potential placed in a perpendicular magnetic field are investigated. The reduced wave function of this system, which is obtained by fixing the positions of N-1 electrons, exhibits strong correlations between the electrons and the zeros. These zeros axe often called vortices. An exact-diagonalization scheme is used to obtain the wave functions and the results are compared with results obtained from the recently proposed rotating electron molecule (REM) theory. We find that the vortices gather around the fixed electrons and repel each other, which is to a much lesser extend so for the REM results.

Abstract: Ballistic electron transport through a finite chain of quantum circular rings is studied in the presence of the Rashba coupling, of strength a, and of a perpendicular magnetic field B. The transmission and reflection coefficients for a single ring, obtained analytically, help obtain the conductance through a chain of rings as a function of the strength a, the field B, and of the wave vector k of the incident electron. Due to destructive spin interferences caused by the Rashba coupling the chain can be totally opaque for certain ranges of k the width of which depends on values of a and B. Outside these ranges the conductance oscillates with high values between e(2)/h and 2e(2)/h. The effect of a periodic modulation of a or B on the conductance gaps is investigated. A periodic, square-wave conductance pattern, pertinent to the development of the spin transistor, results within wide stripes in the parameter space spanned by k, a, and B. Finite temperatures smoothen the square-wave profile of the conductance but do not alter its periodic character.