LETTER TO THE EDITOR Strongly correlated wavefunctions for artificial atoms and molecules

Amethod for constructing semianalytical strongly correlated wavefunctions for single and molecular quantum dots (QDs) is presented. It employs a two-step approach of symmetry breaking at the Hartree–Fock level and of subsequent restoration of total spin and angular momentum symmetries via projection techniques. Illustrative applications are presented for the case of a two-electron helium-like single QD and a hydrogen-like QD molecule. (Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version) Understanding the nature of strong many-body correlations in condensed-matter finite systems is a fundamental task, which can be facilitated by devising analytical or semi-analytical manybody wavefunctions that approximate well the exact solutions and capture the essential physical properties of such systems. The description of strong correlations in the two-dimensional electron gas in a high magnetic field by the Laughlin wavefunction [1] represents a celebrated example of such a methodology. Here we construct semianalytical correlated wavefunctions for electrons in twodimensiona