Revealing attractive electron-electron interaction in a quantum dot by full counting statistics

Abstract

Recent experiments [Nature 521, 196 (2015) and Nat. Commun. 8, 395 (2017)] have presented evidence for electron pairing in a quantum dot beyond the superconducting regime. Here, we show that the impact of an attractive electron-electron interaction on the full counting statistics of electron transfer through a quantum dot is qualitatively different from the case of a repulsive interaction. In particular, the sign of higher-order (generalized) factorial cumulants reveals more pronounced correlations, which even survive in the limit of fast spin relaxation.