Quantum dots and the many-body problem

Quantum dots are often referred to as artificial atoms: Metallic gates at the surface of a GaAs-GaAlAs heterostructure confine the two-dimensional electron 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 leads, the number of electrons on the dot is (almost) integer, and the Coulomb interaction is important and affects many properties of quantum dots: The spacing of Coulomb blockade resonances, the co-tunneling between resonances, and (possible) localization in Fock space. Some theoretical work relating to these topics is reviewed.