Stochastic variational approach to few-electron artificial atoms

The spectra of quantum dots of different geometries (quantum ring, quantum cylinder, spherical square well, and parabolic) are studied. The stochastic variational method on correlated Gaussian basis functions and a large scale shell-model approach have been used to investigate these “artificial” atoms and their properties in magnetic fields. Accurate numerical results are presented for $N=2\mathrm{}–8$ electron systems.