Ground-state densities and pair correlation functions in parabolic quantum dots

We present an extensive comparative study of ground-state densities and pair distribution functions for electrons confined in two-dimensional parabolic quantum dots over a broad range of coupling strength and electron number. We first use spin-density-functional theory to determine spin densities that are compared with Diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) data. This accurate knowledge of one-body properties is then used to construct and test a local approximation for the electron-pair correlations. We find very satisfactory agreement between this local scheme and the available DMC data, and provide a detailed picture of two-body correlations in a coupling-strength regime preceding the formation of Wigner-like electron ordering.