CONDUCTANCE IN A ONE-DIMENSIONAL SPIN-POLARIZED GAS

We present a theoretical analysis of the recent experimental results o f Thomas et al. on transport properties of spin-polarized quantum wire s. We suggest an explanation of the observed deviations of the conduct ance from the universal value G = 2e(2)/h per channel in the wire. We argue that the new quasiplateau observed for the conductance at the va lue C = 1.4e(2)/h is a result of the proximity between the spin-polari zed phase and the metallic phase. The enhancement of the conductance f rom the value G = e(2)/h to G = 1.4e(2)/h is due to the hybridization of the electronic state at K-F(down arrow) approximate to 0 with the c hiral states at K-F(up arrow) and - K-F(up arrow).