Enhancement of Persistent Currents by Hubbard Interactions In Disordered 1D Rings: Avoided Level Crossings Interpretation

We study effects of local electron interactions on the persistent current of one dimensional disordered rings. For different realizations of disorder we compute the current as a function of Aharonov-Bohm flux to zeroth and first orders in the Hubbard interaction. We find that the persistent current is {\em enhanced} by onsite interactions. Using an avoided level crossings approach, we derive analytic formulas which explain the numerical results at weak disorder. The same approach also explains the opposite effect (suppression) found for spinless fermion models with intersite interactions.