Quantum dot ground state energies and spin polarizations: soft versus hard chaos

Abstract

We consider how the nature of the dynamics affects ground state properties of ballistic quantum dots. We find that ``mesoscopic Stoner fluctuations'', that arise from the residual screened Coulomb interaction, are very sensitive to the degree of chaos. It leads to ground state energies and spin-polarizations whose fluctuations strongly increase as a system becomes less chaotic. The crucial features are illustrated with a model that depends on a parameter that tunes the dynamics from nearly integrable to mostly chaotic.