Numerical study of the Coulomb blockade in an open quantum dot

Abstract

The Coulomb blockade in an open quantum dot connected to a bulk lead by a single mode point contact is studied numerically using the path-integral Monte Carlo method. The Coulomb oscillation of the average charge and capacitance of the dot is investigated, and is compared with the analytic expression for strong tunneling. At the degeneracy point, we observe logarithmic divergence of the capacitance for strong backscattering at the point contact. This observation supports the conjecture that the nature of the present system at the degeneracy point is described by the two-channel Kondo problem for an arbitrary strength of tunneling.

5 pages, 4 figures