Quantum dots and the many-body problem

Quantum dots are often referred to as artificial atoms: Metallic gates at t he surface of a GaAs-GaAlAs heterostructure confine the two-dimensional ele ctron gas at the interface to an area of less than or equal to mum(2) size. Because of the tunneling barriers connecting the quantum dot to external l eads, the number of electrons on the dot is (almost) integer, and the Coulo mb interaction is important and affects many properties of quantum dots: Th e spacing of Coulomb blockade resonances, the co-tunneling between resonanc es, and (possible) localization in Fock space. Some theoretical work relati ng to these topics is reviewed.