Numerical studies by Wójs, Yi and Quinn have suggested that an unconventional fractional quantum Hall effect is plausible at filling factors $ν=$ 1/3 and 1/5, provided the interparticle interaction has an unusual form for which the energy of two fermions in the relative angular momentum three channel dominates. The interaction between composite fermions in the second $Λ$ level (composite fermion analog of the electronic Landau level) satisfies this property, and recent studies have supported unconventional fractional quantum Hall effect of composite fermions at $ν^*=$ 4/3 and 5/3, which manifests as fractional quantum Hall effect of electrons at $ν=$ 4/11, 4/13, 5/13, and 5/17. I investigate in this article the nature of the fractional quantum Hall states at $ν=$ 4/5, 5/7, 6/17, and 6/7, which correspond to composite fermions at $ν^*=$ 4/3, 5/3 and 6/5, and find that all these fractional quantum Hall states are conventional. The underlying reason is that the interaction between composite fermions depends substantially on both the number and the direction of the vortices attached to the electrons. I also study in detail the states with different spin polarizations at 6/17 and 6/7 and predict the critical Zeeman energies for the spin phase transitions between them. I calculate the excitation gaps at 4/5, 5/7, 6/7, and 6/17 and compare them against recent experiments.
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.
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 investigate the problem of intertwined orders in fractional Chern insulators by considering lattice fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states arising from pairing of composite fermions in the square-lattice Hofstadter model. At certain filling fractions, magnetic translation symmetry ensures the composite fermions form Fermi surfaces with multiple pockets, leading to the formation of finite-momentum Cooper pairs in the presence of attractive interactions. We obtain mean-field phase diagrams exhibiting a rich array of striped and topological phases, establishing paired lattice FQH states as an id…
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.
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 propose a systematical approach to construct generic fractional quantum anomalous Hall (FQAH) states, which are generalizations of the fractional quantum Hall states to lattice models with zero net magnetic field and full lattice translation symmetry. Local and translationally invariant Hamiltonians can also be constructed, for which the proposed states are unique ground states. Our result demonstrates that generic chiral topologically ordered states can be realized in lattice models, without requiring magnetic translation symmetry and Landau level structure. We further generalize our appro…
Even though composite fermions in the fractional quantum Hall liquid are well established, it is not yet known up to what energies they remain intact. We probe the high-energy spectrum of the 1/3 liquid directly by resonant inelastic light scattering, and report the observation of a large number of new collective modes. Supported by our theoretical calculations, we associate these with transitions across two or more composite fermions levels. The formation of quasiparticle levels up to high energies is direct evidence for the robustness of topological order in the fractional quantum Hall effec…
Composite fermions have played a seminal role in understanding the quantum Hall effect, particularly the formation of a compressible `composite Fermi liquid' (CFL) at filling factor nu = 1/2. Here we suggest that in multi-layer systems interlayer Coulomb repulsion can similarly generate `metallic' behavior of composite fermions between layers, even if the electrons remain insulating. Specifically, we propose that a quantum Hall bilayer with nu = 1/2 per layer at intermediate layer separation may host such an interlayer coherent CFL, driven by exciton condensation of composite fermions. This ph…
Viewpoint on Nigel R. Cooper and Jean Dalibard, "Reaching Fractional Quantum Hall States with Optical Flux Lattices", Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 185301 (2013), and N. Y. Yao, A. V. Gorshkov, C. R. Laumann, A. M. Läuchli, J. Ye, and M. D. Lukin, "Realizing Fractional Chern Insulators in Dipolar Spin Systems", Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 185302 (2013). Researchers propose new ways to recreate fractional quantum Hall physics using ultracold atoms and molecules.
We note an implication of chiral Luttinger liquid based edge state description of the fractional quantum Hall effect. By considering several examples that involve backward moving neutral modes, arising from either composite fermions with reverse flux attached or edge reconstruction, we show that non-universality of the edge exponent implies non-universality of the Hall conductance, as measured in the two-terminal conductance.
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 formulate the Kohn-Sham equations for the fractional quantum Hall effect by mapping the original electron problem into an auxiliary problem of composite fermions that experience a density dependent effective magnetic field. Self-consistent solutions of the KS equations demonstrate that our formulation captures not only configurations with non-uniform densities but also topological properties such as fractional charge and fractional braid statistics for the quasiparticles excitations. This method should enable a realistic modeling of the edge structure, the effect of disorder, spin physics, …
Quantum Hall effects with multicomponent internal degrees of freedom facilitate the playground of novel emergent topological orders. Here, we explore the correlated topological phases of two-component hardcore bosons at a total filling factor $ν=2/5$ in both lattice Chern band models and Landau level continuum model under the interplay of intracomponent and intercomponent repulsions. We give the numerically theoretical demonstration of the emergence of two competing distinct fractional quantum Hall states: Halperin (441) fractional quantum Hall effect and Halperin (223) fractional quantum Hall…
We construct a class of lattice Hamiltonians that exhibit fractional Hall conductivity. These Hamiltonians, while not being exactly solvable, can be controllably solved in their low energy sectors, through a combination of perturbative and exact techniques. Our construction demonstrates a systematic way to circumvent the Kapustin-Fidkowski no-go theorem and is generalizable.
Fractional quantum Hall-superconductor heterostructures may provide a platform towards non-abelian topological modes beyond Majoranas. However their quantitative theoretical study remains extremely challenging. We propose and implement a numerical setup for studying edge states of fractional quantum Hall droplets with a superconducting instability. The fully gapped edges carry a topological degree of freedom that can encode quantum information protected against local perturbations. We simulate such a system numerically using exact diagonalization by restricting the calculation to the quasihole…
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.
We develop a hydrodynamic field theory of the three-dimensional fractional quantum Hall effect, which was recently proposed to exist in magnetic Weyl semimetals, when the Weyl nodes are gapped by strong repulsive interactions. This theory takes the form of a BF theory, which contains both one-form and two-form gauge fields, coupling to quasiparticle and loop excitations correspondingly. It may be regarded as a generalization of the Chern-Simons theory of two-dimensional fractional quantum Hall liquids to three dimensions.
We study the fractional quantum Hall effect at filling fractions 7/3 and 5/2 in the presence of the spin-orbit interaction, using the exact diagonalization method and the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) method in a spherical geometry. Trial wave functions at these fillings are the Laughlin state and the Moore-Reed-Pfaffian state. The ground state excitation energy gaps and pair-correlation functions at fractional filling factor 7/3 and 5/2 in the second Landau level are calculated. We find that the spin-orbit interaction stabilizes the fractional quantum Hall states.
In this letter, we discuss the recently proposed fractional quantum Hall effect in the absence of Landau levels. It is shown that the parton construction can explain all properties of 1/3 state, including the effective charge of quasi-particles, their statistics and the many-body ground-state degeneracy. The low energy description of these states has been discussed. We also generalize our model to construct the hierarchical quantum Hall states at filling fractions other than $1/m$.
A conceptual difficulty in formulating the density functional theory of the fractional quantum Hall effect is that while in the standard approach the Kohn-Sham orbitals are either fully occupied or unoccupied, the physics of the fractional quantum Hall effect calls for fractionally occupied Kohn-Sham orbitals. This has necessitated averaging over an ensemble of Slater determinants to obtain meaningful results. We develop an alternative approach in which we express and minimize the grand canonical potential in terms of the composite fermion variables. This provides a natural resolution of the f…
The fractional quantum Hall effect has inspired searches for exotic emergent topological particles, such as fractionally charged excitations, composite fermions, abelian and nonabelian anyons and Majorana fermions. Fractionally charged skyrmions, which support both topological charge and topological vortex-like spin structure, have also been predicted to occur in the vicinity of 1/3 filling of the lowest Landau level. The fractional skyrmions, however, are anticipated to be exceedingly fragile, suppressed by very small Zeeman energies. Here we show that, slightly away from 1/3 filling, the sma…
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.
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.
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.
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…
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…
The quantum Hall superfluid is presently the only viable candidate for a realization of quasiparticles with fractional Berry phase statistics. For a simple vortex excitation, relevant for a subset of fractional Hall states considered by Laughlin, non-trivial Berry phase statistics were demonstrated many years ago by Arovas, Schrieffer, and Wilczek. The quasiparticles are in general more complicated, described accurately in terms of excited composite fermions. We use the method developed by Kjonsberg, Myrheim and Leinaas to compute the Berry phase for a single composite-fermion quasiparticle, a…
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 address the question of whether fractionally filled bands with a nontrivial Chern index in zero external field could also exhibit a Fractional Quantum Hall Effect (FQHE). Numerical works suggest this is possible. Analytic treatments are complicated by a non-vanishing band dispersion and a non-constant Berry flux. We propose embedding the Chern band in an auxiliary lowest Landau level (LLL) and then using composite fermions. We find some states which have no analogue in the continuum, and dependent on the interplay between interactions and the lattice. The approach extends to two-dimensional…
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 calculate a topological invariant, whose value would coincide with the Chern number in case of integer quantum Hall effect, for fractional quantum Hall states. In case of Abelian fractional quantum Hall states, this invariant is shown to be equal to the trace of the K-matrix. In case of non-Abelian fractional quantum Hall states, this invariant can be calculated on a case by case basis from the conformal field theory describing these states. This invariant can be used, for example, to distinguish between different fractional Hall states numerically even though, as a single number, it cannot…
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 …
We investigate the algebraic structure of flat energy bands a partial filling of which may give rise to a fractional quantum anomalous Hall effect (or a fractional Chern insulator) and a fractional quantum spin Hall effect. Both effects arise in the case of a sufficiently flat energy band as well as a roughly flat and homogeneous Berry curvature, such that the global Chern number, which is a topological invariant, may be associated with a local non-commutative geometry. This geometry is similar to the more familiar situation of the fractional quantum Hall effect in two-dimensional electron sys…
We derive the low-energy theory of semi-quantized quantum Hall states, a recently observed class of gapless bilayer fractional quantum Hall states. Our theory shows these states to feature gapless quasiparticles of fractional charge coupled to an emergent Chern-Simons gauge field. These gapless quasiparticles can be understood as composites of electrons and Laughlin-like quasiparticles. We show that semi-quantized quantum Hall states exhibit perfect interlayer drag, host non-Fermi liquid physics, and serve as versatile parent states for fully gapped topological phases hosting anyonic excitatio…
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.
The concept of fractional charge is central to the theory of the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE). Here I use exact diagonalization as well as configuration space renormalization (CSR) to study finite clusters which are large enough to contain two independent edges. I analyze the conditions of resonant tunneling between the two edges. The "computer experiment" reveals a periodic sequence of resonant tunneling events consistent with the experimentally observed fractional quantization of electric charge in units of e/3 and e/5.
We propose a pseudo-potential Hamiltonian for the Zhang-Hu's generalized fractional quantum Hall states to be the exact and unique ground states. Analogously to Laughlin's quasi-hole (quasi-particle), the excitations in the generalized fractional quantum Hall states are extended objects. They are vortex-like excitations with fractional charges $+(-)1/m^3$ in the total configuration space CP$^3$. The density correlation function of the Zhang-Hu states indicates that they are incompressible liquid.
We calculate the phase diagram of the two component fractional quantum Hall effect as a function of the spin or valley Zeeman energy and the filling factor, which reveals new phase transitions and phase boundaries spanning many fractional plateaus. This phase diagram is relevant to the fractional quantum Hall effect in graphene and in GaAs and AlAs quantum wells, when either the spin or valley degree of freedom is active.
We elucidate the nature of neutral collective excitations of fractional quantum Hall liquids in the long-wavelength limit. We demonstrate that they are chiral gravitons carrying angular momentum - 2, which are quanta of quantum motion of an internal metric, and show up as resonance peaks in the systems response to what is the fractional Hall analog of gravitational waves. Relation with existing and possible future experimental work that can detect these fractional quantum Hall gravitons and reveal their chirality are discussed.
In two-dimensional electron systems confined to GaAs quantum wells, as a function of either tilting the sample in magnetic field or increasing density, we observe multiple transitions of the fractional quantum Hall states (FQHSs) near filling factors $ν=3/4$ and 5/4. The data reveal that these are spin-polarization transitions of interacting two-flux composite Fermions, which form their own FQHSs at these fillings. The fact that the reentrant integer quantum Hall effect near $ν=4/5$ always develops following the transition to full spin polarization of the $ν=4/5$ FQHS strongly links the reentr…
The The composite fermion model (CF) of the quantum Hall effect which gives the correct series of charges is based on attachment of flux quanta to the electron. The construction of the series of charges leads to a field expression which requires that flux quanta are attached to the electron. The series based on the experimental data is correct but the field deduced from such a series is found to be incorrect. The attachment of even number of flux quanta to an electron required by the CF model is found to be internally inconsistent.
We propose ways to create and detect fractionally charged excitations in \emph{integer} quantum Hall edge states. The charge fractionalization occurs due to the Coulomb interaction between electrons propagating on different edge channels. The fractional charge of the soliton-like collective excitations can be observed in time resolved or frequency dependent shot noise measurements.
A microscopic confirmation of the fractional statistics of the {\em quasiparticles} in the fractional quantum Hall effect has so far been lacking. We calculate the statistics of the composite-fermion quasiparticles at $ν=1/3$ and $ν=2/5$ by evaluating the Berry phase for a closed loop encircling another composite-fermion quasiparticle. A careful consideration of subtle perturbations in the trajectory due to the presence of an additional quasiparticle is crucial for obtaining the correct value of the statistics. The conditions for the applicability of the fractional statistics concept are discu…
The fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) is extensively studied, but the explanation for Hall plateau widths and excitation energy gaps remains elusive. We study the effective theory of FQHE built upon experimental inputs of Hall current distribution, edge dynamics, and many-body correlations. We argue that correlated composites of integer spin, comprising electrons and their images, localized at the edge of the incompressible strip are the basic transport entity. We show in the lowest Landau level that Zeeman interactions of these composites produce all odd denominator plateaus and effective…
We establish a variational principle for properly mapping a fractional quantum Hall (FQH) state to a fractional Chern insulator (FCI). We find that the mapping has a gauge freedom which could generate a class of FCI ground state wave functions appropriate for different forms of interactions. Therefore, the gauge should be fixed by a variational principle that minimizes the interaction energy of the FCI model. For a soft and isotropic electron-electron interaction, the principle leads to a gauge coinciding with that for maximally localized \emph{two-dimensional} projected Wannier functions of a…
We address the issue of an apparent disagreement between theory and experiment on the I-V characteristic of electron tunneling from a metal to the edge of a two-dimensional electron gas in the fractional quantum Hall regime. A part of our result is a theory for the edge of the half-filled Landau level.
We discuss the orbital effect of a tilted magnetic field on the quantum Hall effect in parabolic quantum wells. Many-body states realized at the fractional 1/3 and 1/2 filling of the second electronic subband are studied using finite-size exact diagonalization. In both cases, we obtain the phase diagram consisting of a fractional quantum Hall fluid phase that persists for moderate tilts, and eventually undergoes a direct transition to the stripe phase. It is shown that tilting of the field probes the geometrical degree of freedom of fractional quantum Hall fluids, and can be partly related to …
We numerically study the fractional quantum Hall effect at filling factors $ν=12/5$ and 13/5 (the particle-hole conjugate of 12/5) in high-quality two-dimensional GaAs heterostructures via exact diagonalization including finite well width and Landau level mixing. We find that Landau level mixing suppresses $ν=13/5$ fractional quantum Hall effect relative to $ν=12/5$. By contrast, we find both $ν=2/5$ and (its particle-hole conjugate) $ν=3/5$ fractional quantum Hall effects in the lowest Landau level to be robust under Landau level mixing and finite well-width corrections. Our results provide a…
Because of the spin and Dirac-valley degrees of freedom, graphene allows the observation of one-, two- or four-component fractional quantum Hall effect in different parameter regions. We argue that some, though not all, apparently puzzling features observed in recent experiments are consistent with a two-component fractional quantum Hall effect, with the electron spin frozen but the Dirac-valley symmetry approximately intact. In the SU(4) limit, we predict that new low-energy Goldstone modes determine the stability of the fractional quantum Hall states at 2/5, 3/7 etc.; SU(4) skyrmions are not…
The observation of new insulating phases of two-dimensional electrons in the first excited Landau level is reported. These states, which are manifested as re-entrant integer quantized Hall effects, exist alongside well-developed even-denominator fractional quantized Hall states at nu=7/2 and 5/2 and new odd-denominator states at nu=3+1/5 and 3+4/5.
We study theoretically resonant tunneling of composite fermions through their quasi-bound states around a fractional quantum Hall island, and find a rich set of possible transitions of the island state as a function of the magnetic field or the backgate voltage. These considerations have possible relevance to a recent experimental study, and bring out many subtleties involved in deducing fractional braiding statistics.
We study fractional quantum Hall states in the cylinder geometry with open boundaries. By truncating the Coulomb interactions between electrons we show that it is possible to construct infinitely many exact eigenstates including the ground state, quasiholes, quasielectrons and the magnetoroton branch of excited states.
By allowing the spin degrees of freedom, we present a generalized spin allowed $U(1)\times U(1)$ Chern-Simons theory of fractional quantum Hall effects for odd and even denominator filling factors in single layers. This theory is shown to reproduce all possible odd denominator filling factors corresponding to spin-unpolarized, partially polarized, and fully polarized fractional quantum Hall states. Closely following our earlier theory, we derive the formal expressions of electromagnetic polarization tensors and Hall conductivity for the spin-unpolarized and partially polarized fractional quant…
A low energy effective Hamiltonian for the fractional quantum Hall effect is obtained by using irreducible representations of the symmetry group. It is found that the model described by the effective Hamiltonian is similar to the Heisenberg spin chain. Symmetries of the effective Hamiltonian are studied in order to decompose the relevant Hilbert space. This decomposition will be useful for further numerical analysis on the gap of the quantum Hall system.
We show that the set of double-layer Fractional Quantum Hall (FQH) states with a given topological order form a finite Abelian group under a new product. This group structure makes it possible to construct new FQH states from known ones. We also introduce a new index which can be used to characterize the topological order of FQH states.
In this paper, we consider there exist two types of fundamental quasihole excitation in the fractional quantum spin Hall state and investigate their topological properties by both Chern-Simons field theory and Berry phase technique. By the two different ways, we obtain the identical charge and statistical angle for each type of quasihole, as well as the identical mutual statistics between two different types of quasihole excitation.
We construct a class of 2+1 dimensional relativistic quantum field theories which exhibit the Fractional Quantum Hall Effect in the infrared, both in the continuum and on the lattice. The UV completion consists of a perturbative $U(1)\times U(1)$ gauge theory with only integer-charged fields, while the low energy spectrum consists of nontrivial topological phases supporting fractional currents, fractionally charged chiral surface modes and bulk anyonic excitations. Exotic phenomena such as a Fractional Quantum Spin Hall Effect can arise in such models.
