  A floating Wigner crystal differs from the standard one by a spatial
averaging over positions of the Wigner-crystal lattice. It has the same
internal structure as the fixed crystal, but contrary to it, takes into account
rotational and/or translational symmetry of the underlying jellium background.
We study properties of a floating Wigner molecule in few-electron
spin-polarized quantum dots, and show that the floating solid has the lower
energy than the standard Wigner crystal with fixed lattice points. We also
argue that internal rotational symmetry of individual dots can be broken in
arrays of quantum dots, due to degenerate ground states and inter-dot Coulomb
coupling.
