THE WEAK-LOCALIZATION CORRECTION TO THE POLARIZATION AND PERSISTENT CURRENTS IN MESOSCOPIC METAL RINGS

We re-examine the effect of electron-electron interactions on the pers istent current in mesoscopic metal rings threaded by an Aharonov-Bohm Bur. The exchange contribution to the current is shown to be determine d by the weak localization correction to the polarization. We explicit ly calculate the contribution from exchange interactions with momentum transfers smaller than the inverse elastic mean free path to the aver age current, and find that it has the same order of magnitude as the c anonical current without interactions. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.