Transitions between electron-molecule states in electrostatic quantum dots

Intermediate spin states that occur in electrostatic dots in the magnetic field regime just beyond the maximum density droplet are investigated. The 5-electron system is studied with exact diagonalization and group theory. The results indicate that the intermediate spin states are mixed symmetry states with a superposition of 5- and 4-fold electron-molecule configurations. A superposition of 5- and 4-fold correlation functions is found to reproduce the exact mixed symmetry pair correlation function to around 2%.