Systematic study of persistent currents in small systems: geometry and interactions
The persistent current is calculated via an exact numerical diagonalization technique for both one- and two-dimensional-model geometries, with an emphasis on the effects of interactions. We find that the interactions can enhance the persistent current for the case of strong diagonal disorder by screening the on-site disorder potential. The screening effect is demonstrated by showing that for a particular configuration of disorder the many-body ground-state, which, for strong disorder, in the absence of interactions will fully occupy only the lowest energy sites, becomes more homogeneous with increasing interaction strength. We also show that the persistent-current vs.flux curves take on the qualitative character of the noninteracting, no-disorder curves for the same structure and filling, which is consistent with the screening mechanism.PACS Nos. 71.10.+x,31.10.+z