Moment of inertia in elliptical quantum dots

The moment of inertia of deformed quantum dots and its experimental relevance in relation to the dot spectroscopic features is theoretically investigated. A strong link to the low-energy orbital current mode that manifests in the magnetic dipole (M1) spectrum is stressed. The moment of inertia is obtained by solving the cranked Kohn–Sham equations within the local-spin-density approximation and the results discussed in comparison with the predictions of an analytical non-interacting model. The results as a function of deformation and size indicate that the existence of spin transitions in the dot ground state has an important effect on the moment of inertia.