It is shown that the static electric polarizability of a system of isolated small metal particles is sensitive to magnetic and spin-orbit interactions. This quantity grows with a magnetic field. Although the increase is typically not very large, its experimental observation seems to be feasible. The calculation is performed by taking into account the Coulomb interaction which leads to screening the external electric field. The supersymmetry technique combined with the random phase approximation is used.

• Received 13 November 1995

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.76.1908