Artificial versus Natural Atoms: The uncanny capability of the many-body Schr"odinger equation to produce emergent behavior
cond-mat.str-el, nucl-th, physics.atom-ph
Submitted: 2026-09-28
Updated: 2026-09-28
Comments: Review paper, 100 pages with 50 figures. For related papers, see https://sites.gatech.edu/cyannouleas/
Journal ref: J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 38, 343002 (2026)
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The gist: 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
Terminology
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. 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 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, WMs provide an alternative theory to the fractional quantum Hall effect. The physics of Wigner molecules is shown to derive from the solutions of the many-body Schrödinger equation (MBSE) in the regime of strong interparticle correlations arising from the dominance of the potential over the kinetic energy, or from a high magnetic field, as well as from a rapid rotation... (continues in the paper).
Sources
- Emergence: from physics to biology, sociology, and computer science
- Ion Coulomb crystals: an exotic form of condensed matter
- Large Electron Model: A Universal Ground State Predictor
- Studying Continuous Symmetry Breaking using Energy Level Spectroscopy
- Spin-orbital magnetism in moir'e Wigner molecules
- Correlated Quantum Phenomena in Confined Two-Dimensional Hexagonal Crystals
- Hofstadter states and reentrant charge order in a semiconductor moir'e lattice
- Symmetry breaking transforms strong to normal correlation and false metals to true insulators
- Large quantum dot energy level shifts in anomalous photon-assisted tunneling
- Tunable Wigner Molecules in a Germanium Quantum Dot
- Interacting electrons in silicon quantum interconnects
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