Magnetization of two coupled rings

We investigate the persistent currents and magnetization of a mesoscopic system consisting of two clean metallic rings sharing a single contact point in a magnetic field. Many novel features with respect to the single-ring geometry are underlined, including the explicit dependence of wavefunctions on the Aharonov-Bohm fluxes, the complex pattern of two-fold and three-fold degeneracies, the key role of length and flux commensurability, and in the case of commensurate ring lengths the occurrence of idle levels which do not carry any current. Spin-orbit interactions, induced by the electric fields of charged wires threading the rings, give rise to a peculiar version of the Aharonov-Casher effect where, unlike for a single ring, spin is not conserved. Remarkably enough, this can only be realized when the Aharonov-Bohm fluxes in both rings are neither integer nor half-integer multiples of the flux quantum.