Thermal properties of a particle confined to a parabolic quantum well in two-dimensional space with conical disclination

Abstract

The thermal properties of a system, comprising of a spinless noninteracting charged particle in the presence of a constant external magnetic field and confined in a parabolic quantum well are studied. The focus has been on the effects of a topological defect, of the form of conical disclination, with regard to the thermodynamic properties of the system. We have obtained the modifications to the traditional Landau-Fock-Darwin spectrum in the presence of conical disclination. The effect of the conical kink on the degeneracy structure of the energy levels is investigated. The canonical formalism is used to compute various thermodynamic variables. The study shows an interplay between magnetic field, temperature, and the degree of conicity by setting two scales for temperature corresponding to the frequency of the confining potential and the cyclotron frequency of external magnetic field. The kink parameter is found to affect the quantitative behavior of the thermodynamic quantities. It plays a crucial role in the competition between the external magnetic field and temperature in fixing the values of the thermal response functions. This study provides an important motivation for studying similar systems, however with nontrivial interactions in the presence of topological defects.