Persistent current of correlated electrons in mesoscopic ring with impurity

The persistent current of correlated electrons in a continuous one-dimensional ring with a single scatterer is calculated by solving the many-body Schrodinger equation for several tens of electrons interacting via the electron–electron (e–e) interaction of finite range. The problem is solved by the configuration-interaction (CI) and diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) methods. The CI and DMC results are in good agreement. In both cases, the persistent current I as a function of the ring length L exhibits the asymptotic dependence I∝L-1-α typical of the Luttinger liquid, where the power α depends only on the e–e interaction. The numerical values of α agree with the known formula of the renormalization-group theory.