Chirality, charge and spin-density wave instabilities of a two-dimensional electron gas in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit coupling

Abstract

We show that a result equivalent to Overhauser's famous Hartree-Fock instability theorem can be established for the case of a two-dimensional electron gas in the presence of Rashba spin-obit coupling. In this case it is the spatially homogeneous paramagnetic chiral ground state that is shown to be differentially unstable with respect to a certain class of distortions of the spin-density-wave and charge-density-wave type. The result holds for all densities. Basic properties of these inhomogeneous states are analyzed.