In two-dimensional electron systems confined to wide AlAs quantum wells, composite fermions around the filling factor $ν$ = 3/2 are fully spin polarized but possess a valley degree of freedom. Here we measure the energy needed to completely valley polarize these composite fermions as a function of electron density. Comparing our results to the existing theory, we find overall good quantitative agreement, but there is an unexpected trend: The measured composite fermion valley polarization energy, normalized to the Coulomb energy, decreases with decreasing density.
We report magnetotransport measurements of fractional quantum Hall states in an AlAs quantum well around Landau level filling factor nu = 3/2, demonstrating that the quasiparticles are composite Fermions (CFs) with a valley degree of freedom. By monitoring the valley level crossings for these states as a function of applied symmetry-breaking strain, we determine the CF valley susceptibility and polarization. The data can be explained well by a simple Landau level fan diagram for CFs, and are in nearly quantitative agreement with the results reported for CF spin polarization.
In an ideal two-component two-dimensional electron system, particle-hole symmetry dictates that the fractional quantum Hall states around $ν= 1/2$ are equivalent to those around $ν= 3/2$. We demonstrate that composite fermions (CFs) around $ν= 1/2$ in AlAs possess a valley degree of freedom like their counterparts around $ν= 3/2$. However, focusing on $ν= 2/3$ and 4/3, we find that the energy needed to completely valley polarize the CFs around $ν= 1/2$ is considerably smaller than the corresponding value for CFs around $ν= 3/2$ thus betraying a particle-hole symmetry breaking.
Neutral graphene in strong magnetic fields is believed to be an (exchange stabilized) integer Hall state of completely filled up spin (say) and empty down spin bands of n = 0, two fold valley degenerate Landau levels. We suggest that correlation energy gain from a nearly SU(4) singlet (2 spin $\times$ 2 valley) composite fermi sea formation, at $ν\approx$ \hlf filling for each component, destabilizes ferromagnetic integer quantum Hall state. This radically different scenario is consistent with a dissipative gapless state seen in experiments in neutral graphene. Interesting paired Hall states a…
We observe minima of the longitudinal resistance corresponding to the quantum Hall effect of composite fermions at quantum numbers $p=1$, 2, 3, 4, and 6 in an ultraclean strongly interacting bivalley SiGe/Si/SiGe two-dimensional electron system. The minima at $p=3$ disappear below a certain electron density, although the surrounding minima at $p=2$ and $p=4$ survive at significantly lower densities. Furthermore, the onset for the resistance minimum at a filling factor $ν=3/5$ is found to be independent of the tilt angle of the magnetic field. These surprising results indicate the intersection …
We study two-component electrons in the lowest Landau level at total filling factor $ν_T=1/2$ with anisotropic mass tensors and principal axes rotated by $π/2$ as realized in Aluminum Arsenide (AlAs) quantum wells. Combining exact diagonalization and the density matrix renormalization group we demonstrate that the system undergoes a quantum phase transition from a gapless state in which both flavors are equally populated to another gapless state in which all the electrons spontaneously polarize into a single flavor beyond a critical mass anisotropy of {\bf $m_x/m_y \sim 7$}. We propose that th…
There is increasing experimental evidence for fractional quantum Hall effect at filling factor $ν=2+3/8$. Modeling it as a system of composite fermions, we study the problem of interacting composite fermions by a number of methods. In our variational study, we consider the Fermi sea, the Pfaffian paired state, and bubble and stripe phases of composite fermions, and find that the Fermi sea state is favored for a wide range of transverse thickness. However, when we incorporate interactions between composite fermions through composite-fermion diagonalization on systems with up to 25 composite fer…
The relation between the conductivity tensors of Composite Fermions and electrons is extended to second generation Composite Fermions. It is shown that it crucially depends on the coupling matrix for the Chern-Simons gauge field. The results are applied to a model of interacting Composite Fermions that can explain both the anomalous plateaus in spin polarization and the corresponding maxima in the resistivity observed in recent transport experiments.
Theoretical studies of the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) in graphene have so far focused on the plausibility and stability of the previously known FQHE states for the interaction matrix elements appropriate for graphene. We consider FQHE for SU(4) symmetry, as appropriate for the situation when all four spin and valley Landau bands are degenerate, and predict new FQHE states that have no analog in GaAs. These result from an essential interplay between the two-fold spin and valley degeneracies at fractions of the form $ν=n/(2pn\pm 1)$, for $n\geq 3$. Conditions are outlined for the obse…
We argue that the naively expected singularities of the Fermi surface, in the mixed composite boson - composite fermion states proposed [S.H. Simon et al., PRL 91, 046803(2003)] for the evolution of ν= 1 bilayer quantum Hall system with distance, are obliterated. Our conclusion is based on a careful analysis of the momentum distribution in ν= 1/2 single-layer composite-fermion state. We point out to a possibility of the phenomenon hitherto unknown outside Kondo lattice systems when, in a translationally invariant system, Fermi-liquid-like portion of electrons enlarges its volume.
A rich pattern of fractional quantum Hall states in graphene double layers can be naturally explained in terms of two-component composite fermions carrying both intra- and inter-layer vortices.
We investigate the properties of composite fermions with four attached flux quanta through tilted field experiments near Landau level filling factor nu = 3/4. The observed collapse of fractional quantum Hall gaps in the vicinity of this quarter-filling state can be comprehensively understood in terms of composite fermions with mass and spin. Remarkably, the effective mass and g-factor of these four flux quanta composite fermions around nu = 3/4 are very similar to those of two flux quanta composite fermions around nu = 3/2.
The observation of strongly-correlated states in moiré systems has renewed the conceptual interest in magnetic systems with higher SU(4) spin symmetry, e.g. to describe Mott insulators where the local moments are coupled spin-valley degrees of freedom. Here, we discuss a numerical renormalization group scheme to explore the formation of spin-valley ordered and unconventional spin-valley liquid states at zero temperature based on a pseudo-fermion representation. Our generalization of the conventional pseudo-fermion functional renormalization group approach for $\mathfrak{su}$(2) spins is capabl…
The physics of the state at even denominator fractional fillings of Landau levels depends on the Coulomb pseudopotentials, and produces, in different GaAs Landau levels, a composite fermion Fermi sea, a stripe phase, or, possibly, a paired composite fermion state. We consider here even denominator fractions in graphene, which has different pseudopotentials as well as a possible four fold degeneracy of each Landau level. We test various composite fermion Fermi sea wave functions (fully polarized, SU(2) singlet, SU(4) singlet) as well as the paired composite fermion states in the n=0 and $n=1$ L…
Fractional edge states can be viewed as integer edge states of composite fermions. We exploit this to discuss the conductance of the fractional quantized Hall states and the velocity of edge magnetoplasmons.
A recently developed model of interacting composite fermions, is used to investigate different composite-fermion phases. Their interaction potential allows for the formation of both solid and new quantum-liquid phases, which are interpreted in terms of second-generation composite fermions and which may be responsible for the fractional quantum Hall states observed at unusual filling factors, such as nu=4/11. Projection of the composite-fermion dynamics to a single level, involved in the derivation of the Hamiltonian of interacting composite fermions, reveals the underlying self-similarity of t…
We report low temperature magnetotransport measurements on a high mobility (μ=325,000 cm^2/V sec) 2D electron system on a H-terminated Si(111) surface. While low magnetic field data indicate a six-fold valley degenerate system, we observe the integral quantum Hall effect at all filling factors ν<=6 and find that ν=2 develops in an unusually narrow temperature range. An extended, exclusively even numerator, fractional quantum Hall hierarchy occurs surrounding ν=3/2, consistent with two-fold valley-degenerate composite fermions (CFs). We determine activation energies and estimate the CF mass.
We construct a class of composite fermion states for bilayer electron systems in a strong transverse magnetic field, and determine quantitatively the phase diagram as a function of the layer separation, layer thickness, and electron density. We find, in general, that there are several transitions, and that the incompressible phases are separated by compressible ones. The paired states of composite fermions, described by Pfaffian wave functions, are also considered.
Strong interactions and topology drive a wide variety of correlated ground states. Some of the most interesting of these ground states, such as fractional quantum Hall states and fractional Chern insulators, have fractionally charged quasiparticles. Correlations in these phases are captured by the binding of electrons and vortices into emergent particles called composite fermions. Composite fermion quasiparticles are randomly localized at high levels of disorder and may exhibit charge order when there is not too much disorder in the system. However, more complex correlations were predicted whe…
In the framework of a recently developed model of interacting composite fermions restricted to a single level, we calculate the activation gaps of a second generation of spin-polarized composite fermions. These composite particles consist each of a composite fermion of the first generation and a vortex-like excitation and may be responsible for the recently observed fractional quantum Hall states at unusual filling factors such as nu=4/11,5/13,5/17, and 6/17. Because the gaps of composite fermions of the second generation are found to be more than one order of magnitude smaller than those of t…
We discuss the composite fermion pairing state in bilayer quantum Hall systems. After the evaluation of the range of the inter-layer separation in which the quantum Hall state is stabilized, we discuss the effect of inter-layer tunneling on the composite fermion pairing state at ν=1/2. We show that there is a cusp at the transition point between the Halperin (3,3,1) state and the Pfaffian state.
Spin excitations from a partially populated composite fermion level are studied above and below $ν=1/3$. In the range $2/7<ν<2/5$ the experiments uncover significant departures from the non-interacting composite fermion picture that demonstrate the increasing impact of interactions as quasiparticle Landau levels are filled. The observed onset of a transition from free to interacting composite fermions could be linked to condensation into the higher order states suggested by transport experiments and numerical evaluations performed in the same filling factor range.
Charged excitons of composite fermions (CFs) are considered in the fractional quantum Hall effect. Energies of the charged CF excitons are computed at $ν=1/3$ as a function of the size of exciton. We show that the charged CF exciton with size of roton is lower in energy than the unbound state of a neutral roton and a lone charge. Therefore we propose that the lowest-energy excitation of the fractional quantum Hall effect is in fact due to the charged excitons of composite fermions composed of two CF-particles and one CF-hole. We believe that charged excitons of composite fermions shed new ligh…
We show that the entanglement spectrum associated with a certain class of strongly correlated many-body states --- the wave functions proposed by Laughlin and Jain to describe the fractional quantum Hall effect --- can be very well described in terms of a simple model of non-interacting (or weakly interacting) composite fermions.
Composite fermion metal states emerge in quantum Hall bilayers at total Landau level filling factor $ν_T$=1 when the tunneling gap collapses by application of in-plane components of the external magnetic field. Evidence of this transformation is found in the continua of spin excitations observed by inelastic light scattering below the spin-wave mode at the Zeeman energy. The low-lying spin modes are interpreted as quasiparticle excitations with simultaneous changes in spin orientation and composite fermion Landau level index.
We investigate the response of a two-dimensional electron gas, in the fractional quantum Hall regime, to the sudden appearance of a localised charged probe using the Chern-Simons theory of composite fermions. The dynamic structure factor of the electron gas is found to have a major influence on the spectral function of the probe. In particular, there is an orthogonality catastrophe when the filling factor is an even-denominator filling fraction due to the compressibility of the state, but there is no catastrophe at odd-denominator filling factors because these states have a gap to excitations.…
We propose a (4+1) dimensional Chern-Simons field theoretical description of the fractional quantum Hall effect. It suggests that composite fermions reside on a momentum manifold with a nonzero Chern number. Based on derivations from microscopic wave functions, we further show that the momentum manifold has a uniformly distributed Berry curvature. As a result, composite fermions do not follow the ordinary Newtonian dynamics as commonly believed, but the more general symplectic one. For a Landau level with the particle-hole symmetry, the theory correctly predicts its Hall conductance at half-fi…
The response of composite Fermions to large wavevector scattering has been studied through phonon drag measurements. While the response retains qualitative features of the electron system at zero magnetic field, notable discrepancies develop as the system is varied from a half-filled Landau level by changing density or field. These deviations, which appear to be inconsistent with the current picture of composite Fermions, are absent if half-filling is maintained while changing density. There remains, however, a clear deviation from the temperature dependence anticipated for 2k_F scattering.
We propose a $\mathbb{Z}_{2}$ classification of Abelian time-reversal fractional topological insulators in terms of the composite fermions picture. We consider the standard toy model where spin up and down electrons are subjected to opposite magnetic fields and only electrons of the same spin interact via a repulsive force. By applying the composite fermions approach to this time-reversal symmetric system, we are able to obtain a hierarchy of topological insulators with spin Hall conductance $σ_{s}=\frac{e}{2π}\frac{p}{2mp+1} $, being $p,m \in\mathbb{N}$. They show stable edge states only for …
Composite fermion wavefuctions have been used to describe electrons in a strong magnetic field. We show that the polynomial part of these wavefunctions can be obtained by applying a normal ordered product of suitably defined annihilation and creation operators to an even power of the Vandermonde determinant, which can been considered as a kind of a non-trivial Fermi sea. In the case of the harmonic interaction we solve the system exactly in the lowest Landau level. The solution makes explicit the boson-fermion correspondence proposed recently.
We review the recently proposed Dirac composite fermion theory of the half-filled Landau level. This paper is based on a talk given at the Nambu Symposium at University of Chicago, March 11-13, 2016.
We use Pseudo Quantum Electrodynamics to study massive (2+1)D Dirac systems interacting electromagnetically via a U(1) gauge field in (3+1)D. It was recently found in Ref. [1], that an interaction-induced Quantum Hall Effect (QHE) and Quantum Valley Hall Effect (QVHE) occur in these systems, when considering a two-component fermion representation. Here, we study the corrections to these effects when coupling the fermions to a (2+1)D massive scalar field via a quartic interaction. We find no correction to the QHE and a non-universal correction to the QVHE, which depends on the ratio of the ferm…
We construct an action for the composite Dirac fermion consistent with symmetries of electrons projected to the lowest Landau level. First we construct a generalization of the $g=2$ electron that gives a smooth massless limit on any curved background. Using the symmetries of the microscopic electron theory in this massless limit we find a number of constraints on any low-energy effective theory. We find that any low-energy description must couple to a geometry which exhibits nontrivial curvature even on flat space-times. Any composite fermion must have an electric dipole moment proportional an…
We extend the composite fermion construction to the torus geometry. We verify the validity of our construction by computing the overlap of the composite fermion state to the exact diagonalization ground state of both Coulomb interaction and Haldane-pseudopotential interaction V_0 (V_1) for bosonic (fermionic) states.
In this paper the possibility to bring about the double- valley Dirac fermions in some quantum structures is predicted. These quantum structures are: strained 3D Hg$_{1-x}$Cd$_x$Te topological insulator (TI) with strong interface inversion asymmetry and the asymmetric Hg$_{1-x}$Cd$_x$Te double quantum wells (DQW). The numerical analysis of the dispersion relation for 3D TI Hg$_{1-x}$Cd$_x$Te for the proper Cd ($x$)-content of in the Hg$_{1-x}$Cd$_x$Te-compound clearly show that the inversion symmetry breaking together with the unaxial tensile strain causes splitting each of Dirac nodes (two be…
We present a mapping of elementary fermion operators onto a quadratic form of composite fermionic and bosonic operators. The mapping is an exact isomorphism as long as the physical constraint of one composite particle per cluster is satisfied. This condition is treated on average in a composite particle mean-field approach, which consists of an ansatz that decouples the composite fermionic and bosonic sectors. The theory is tested on the one- and two-dimensional Hubbard models. Using a Bogoliubov determinant for the composite fermions and either a coherent or Bogoliubov state for the bosons, w…
The paired state of composite fermions is expected to support two kinds of excitations: vortices and unpaired composite fermions. We construct an explicit microscopic description of the unpaired composite fermions, which we demonstrate to be accurate for a 3-body model interaction, and, possibly, adiabatically connected to the Coulomb solution. This understanding reveals that an unpaired composite fermion carries with it a charge-neutral "topological" exciton, which, in turn, helps provide microscopic insight into the origin of zero modes, fusion rules, and energetics.
Unconventional features of relativistic Dirac/Weyl quasi-particles in topological materials are most evidently manifested in the 2D quantum Hall effect (QHE), whose variety is further enriched by their spin and/or valley polarization. Although its extension to three dimensions has been long-sought and inspired theoretical proposals, material candidates have been lacking. Here we have discovered valley-contrasting spin-polarized Dirac fermions in a multilayer form in bulk antiferromagnet BaMnSb$_2$, where the out-of-plane Zeeman-type spin splitting is induced by the in-plane inversion symmetry …
We develop a Fermionic Chern-Simons (CS) theory for the fractional quantum Hall effect in monolayer graphene with SU(4) symmetry, arising from the spin and the valley degrees of freedom, which involves four distinct CS gauge fields. We choose the corresponding elements of the CS coupling matrix such that an even number of spin and valley quantum number dependent flux quanta is attached to all electrons and that any electron with a given spin and valley quantum number sees an integer number of flux attached to other electrons with different (spin and valley) quantum numbers. Using this CS matri…
The magnetic field redefinition in Jain's composite fermion model for the fractional quantum Hall effect is shown to be effectively described by a mean-field approximation of a model containing a Maxwell-Chern-Simons gauge field non-minimally coupled to matter. Also an explicit non-relativistic limit of the non-minimal (2+1)D Dirac equation is derived.
Carrier interactions on graphene are studied. The study shows that besides the well known Coulomb repulsion between carriers, there also exist four-fermion interactions associated with U-process, one of which attracts carriers in different valleys. We then calculate the contributions to valley magnetic moment from vertex correction and from four-fermion corrections explicitly. The relative contributions are -18% and 3% respectively. At last we point out that we can mimic heavy quarkonium system by carrier interactions in graphene.
We investigate the relation between the Fermi sea (FS) of zero-field carriers in two-dimensional systems and the FS of the corresponding composite fermions which emerge in a high magnetic field at filling $ν= \frac{1}{2}$, as the kinetic energy dispersion is varied. We study cases both with and without rotational symmetry, and find that there is generally no straightforward relation between the geometric shapes and topologies of the two FSs. In particular, we show analytically that the composite Fermi liquid (CFL) is completely insensitive to a wide range of changes to the zero-field dispersio…
The particle-hole (PH) symmetry of {\em electrons} is an exact symmetry of the electronic Hamiltonian confined to a specific Landau level, and its interplay with the formation of composite fermions has attracted much attention of late. This article investigates an emergent symmetry in the fractional quantum Hall effect, namely the PH symmetry of {\em composite fermions}, which relates states at composite fermion filling factors $ν^*=n+\barν$ and $ν^*=n+1-\barν$, where the integer $n$ is the $Λ$ level index and $0\leq \barν\leq 1$. Detailed calculations using the microscopic theory of composite…
We present a generalization of the composite Fermion picture for a muticomponent quantum Hall plasma which contains particle with different effective charges. The model predicts very well the low-lying states of a $ν=5/2$ quantum Hall state found in numerical diagonalization.
A recent experimental study [Pan et al., arXiv: 1902.10262] has shown that fractional quantum Hall effect gaps are essentially consistent with particle-hole symmetry in the lowest Landau level. Motivated by this result, we consider a clean two dimensional electron system (2DES) from the viewpoint of composite fermion mean-field theory. In this short note, we show that while the experiment is manifestly consistent with a Dirac composite fermion theory proposed recently by Son, it can equally well be explained within the framework of non-relativistic composite fermions, first put forward by Halp…
The Wigner crystal of composite fermions is a strongly correlated state of complex emergent particles, and therefore its unambiguous detection would be of significant importance. Recent observation of optical resonances in the vicinity of filling factor ν = 1/3 has been interpreted as evidence for a pinned Wigner crystal of composite fermions [Zhu et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 126803 (2010)]. We evaluate in a microscopic theory the shear modulus and the magnetophonon and magnetoplasmon dispersions of the composite fermion Wigner crystal in the vicinity of filling factors 1/3, 2/5, and 3/7. We …
Two-dimensional (2D) crystals have emerged as a class of materials with tuneable carrier density. Carrier doping to 2D semiconductors can be used to modulate manybody interactions and to explore novel composite particles. Holstein polaron is a small composite particle of an electron carrying a cloud of self-induced lattice deformation (or phonons), which has been proposed to play a key role in high-temperature superconductivity and carrier mobility in devices. Here, we report the discovery of Holstein polarons in a surface-doped layered semiconductor, MoS2, where a puzzling 2D superconducting …
We develop a composite Dirac fermion theory for the fractional quantum Hall effects (QHE) near charge neutrality in graphene. We show that the interactions between the composite Dirac fermions lead to dynamical mass generation through exciton condensation. The four-fold spin-valley degeneracy is fully lifted due to the mass generation and the exchange effects such that the odd-denominator fractional QHE observed in the vicinity of charge neutrality can be understood in terms of the integer QHE of the composite Dirac fermions. At the filling factor $ν=1/2$, we show that the massive composite Di…
We predict that an incompressible fractional quantum Hall state is likely to form at $ν=3/8$ as a result of a chiral p-wave pairing of fully spin polarized composite fermions carrying four quantized vortices, and that the pairing is of the Anti-Pfaffian kind. Possible experimental ramifications are discussed.
We formulate a Chern-Simons composite fermion theory for Fractional Chern Insulators (FCIs), whereby bare fermions are mapped into composite fermions coupled to a lattice Chern-Simons gauge theory. We apply this construction to a Chern insulator model on the kagome lattice and identify a rich structure of gapped topological phases characterized by fractionalized excitations including states with unequal filling and Hall conductance. Gapped states with the same Hall conductance at different filling fractions are characterized as realizing distinct symmetry fractionalization classes.
We study the effect of the Chern-Simons gauge fields on the possible transition from two decoupled composite fermion metals to the interlayer coherent composite fermion state proposed by Alicea et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 256403 (2009)] in a symmetrically doped quantum Hall bilayer with total Landau level filling fraction $ν_{tot} = 1$. In this transition, interlayer Coulomb repulsion leads to excitonic condensation of composite fermions which are then free to tunnel coherently between layers. We find that this coherent tunneling is strongly suppressed by the layer-dependent Aharonov-Bohm ph…
We propose that string theory in the background of dyon black holes in four-dimensional anti-de Sitter spacetime is holographic dual to conformally invariant composite Dirac fermion metal. By utilizing S-duality map, we show that thermodynamic and transport properties of the black hole match with those of composite fermion metal, exhibiting Fermi liquid-like. Built upon Dirac-Schwinger-Zwanziger quantization condition, we argue that turning on magnetic charges to electric black hole along the orbit of Gamma(2) subgroup of SL(2,Z) is equivalent to attaching even unit of statistical flux quanta …
We theoretically investigate the nature of the state at quarter filled lowest Landau level and predict that, as the quantum well width is increased, a transition occurs from the composite fermion Fermi sea into a novel non-Abelian fractional quantum Hall state that is topologically equivalent to $f$-wave pairing of composite fermions. This state is topologically distinct from the familiar $p$-wave paired Pfaffian state. We compare our calculated phase diagram with experiments and make predictions for many observable quantities.
The classic composite fermion field theory (Ref. 1) builds up an excellent framework to uniformly study important physical objects and globally explain anomalous experimental phenomena in fractional quantum Hall physics while there are also inherent weaknesses. We present a nonperturbative emergent Dirac fermion theory from this strongly correlated composite fermion field theory, which overcomes these serious long-standing shortcomings. The particle-hole symmetry of Dirac equation resolves this particle-hole symmetry enigma in the composite fermion field theory. With the help of presented nume…
Haldane's geometrical description of fractional quantum Hall states is generalized to compressible states. It is shown that anisotropy in the composite fermion Fermi surface is a direct reflection of this intrinsic geometry. A simple model is introduced in which the geometric parameter can be obtained exactly from other parameters including electron mass anisotropy. Our results compare favorably with recent measurements of anisotropy in composite fermion Fermi surface [D. Kamburov, Y. Liu, M. Shayegan, L. N. Pfeiffer, K. W. West, and K. W. Baldwin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 206801 (2013)]. Broader…
We consider a model of Fermi-Bose mixture with strong hard-core repulsion between particles of the same sort and attraction between particles of different sorts. In this case, besides the standard anomalous averages of the type $<b>$; $<bb>$ and $<cc>$, a pairing between fermion and boson of the type $bc$ is possible. This pairing corresponds to a creation of composite fermions in the system. At low temperatures and equal densities of fermions and bosons composite fermions are further paired in quartets. Our investigations are important for high-$T_c$ superconductors and in connection with rec…