Transport through a partially spin-polarized quantum dot

The addition spectrum of recent experiments on transport through chaotic qu antum dots in the Coulomb blockade regime show features which are consisten t with strongly correlated, partially spin polarized, electrons in the dot. On the other hand, the peak height distribution fits quite well a constant charging independent electron picture, and shows no signature of spin bloc kade behavior expected in the strongly correlated regime. Based on exact di agonalization studies of model Hamiltonians of strongly correlated quantum dot, we shall present a possible explanation for this behavior. (C) 2000 El sevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.