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arXiv:0810.0636 · Physical Review Letters

Conformal Field Theory Approach to Abelian and Non-Abelian Quantum Hall Quasielectrons

T. H. Hansson, Maria Hermanns, Nicolas Regnault, S. Viefers

Published Apr 23, 2009• 38 citations
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Abstract

The quasiparticles in quantum Hall liquids carry fractional charge and obey fractional quantum statistics. Of particular recent interest are those with non-Abelian statistics, since their braiding properties could, in principle, be used for robust coding of quantum information. There is already a good theoretical understanding of quasiholes in both Abelian and non-Abelian quantum Hall states. Here we develop conformal field theory methods that allow for an equally precise description of quasielectrons and explicitly construct two- and four-quasielectron excitations of the non-Abelian Moore-Read state.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.102.166805

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The quasiparticles in quantum Hall liquids carry fractional charge and obey fractional quantum statistics. Of particular recent interest are those with non-Abelian statistics, since their braiding properties could, in principle, be used for robust coding of quantum information. There is already a good theoretical understanding of quasiholes in both Abelian and non-Abelian quantum Hall states. Here we develop conformal field theory methods that allow for an equally precise description of quasielectrons and explicitly construct two- and four-quasielectron excitations of the non-Abelian Moore-Read state.
A most interesting feature of certain fractional quantum Hall states is that their quasiparticles obey non-Abelian fractional statistics. So far, candidate non-Abelian wave functions have been constructed from conformal blocks in cleverly chosen conformal field theories. In this work we present a hierarchy scheme by which we can construct daughter states by condensing non-Abelian quasiparticles (as opposed to quasiholes) in a parent state, and show that the daughters have a non-Abelian statistics that differs from the parent. In particular, we discuss the daughter of the bosonic, spin-polarized Moore-Read state at nu=4/3 as an explicit example.
We study the non-Abelian statistics of quasiparticles in the Ising-type quantum Hall states which are likely candidates to explain the observed Hall conductivity plateaus in the second Landau level, most notably the one at filling fraction $\ensuremath{\nu}=5/2$. We complete the program started in V. Gurarie and C. Nayak, [Nucl. Phys. B 506, 685 (1997)]. and show that the degenerate four-quasihole and six-quasihole wave functions of the Moore-Read Pfaffian state are orthogonal with equal constant norms in the basis given by conformal blocks in a c=1+12c=1+\frac{1}{2}c=1+21​ conformal field theory. As a consequence, this proves that the non-Abelian statistics of the excitations in this state are given by the explicit analytic continuation of these wave functions. Our proof is based on a plasma analogy derived from the Coulomb gas construction of Ising model correlation functions involving both order and (at most two) disorder operators. We show how this computation also determines the non-Abelian statistics of collections of more than six quasiholes and give an explicit expression for the corresponding conformal block-derived wave functions for an arbitrary number of quasiholes. Our method also applies to the anti-Pfaffian wave function and to Bonderson-Slingerland hierarchy states constructed over the Moore-Read and anti-Pfaffian states.
We develop a formalism to describe quasihole condensates in quantum Hall liquids and thereby extend the conformal field theory approach to the full hierarchy of spin-polarized Abelian states and to several classes of non-Abelian hierarchical states. Most previously proposed spin-polarized quantum Hall wave functions appear as special cases. In this paper we explain the physical motivations for the approach, and exemplify it by explicitly constructing the level-two quasihole condensate state at filling fraction 2/3, and the two level-three states at 5/13 and 5/7 which are built from combinations of quasielectron and quasihole condensates.
We study the non-Abelian statistics of quasiparticles in the Ising-type quantum Hall states which are likely candidates to explain the observed Hall conductivity plateaus in the second Landau level, most notably the one at filling fraction ν = 5/2.We complete the program started in V. Gurarie and C. Nayak, [Nucl. Phys. B 506, 685 (1997)].and show that the degenerate four-quasihole and six-quasihole wave functions of the Moore-Read Pfaffian state are orthogonal with equal constant norms in the basis given by conformal blocks in a c = 1 + 1 2 conformal field theory.As a consequence, this proves that the non-Abelian statistics of the excitations in this state are given by the explicit analytic continuation of these wave functions.Our proof is based on a plasma analogy derived from the Coulomb gas construction of Ising model correlation functions involving both order and (at most two) disorder operators.We show how this computation also determines the non-Abelian statistics of collections of more than six quasiholes and give an explicit expression for the corresponding conformal block-derived wave functions for an arbitrary number of quasiholes.Our method also applies to the anti-Pfaffian wave function and to Bonderson-Slingerland hierarchy states constructed over the Moore-Read and anti-Pfaffian states.
A core tenet of condensed matter physics has been that different phases of matter can be classified according to Landau's symmetry breaking paradigm. It has become clear, however, that phases of matter exist that are not distinguished by symmetry, but rather by topology. A paradigmatic example of this topological order are the fractional quantum Hall phases, which are the topic of this dissertation. Such phases exhibit the fractional quantum Hall effect, which occurs when electrons confined to two dimensions are subjected to a strong perpendicular magnetic field at very low temperatures. Characterized by a precise quantization of the Hall resistance and a concomitant vanishing of the longitudinal resistance, the fractional quantum Hall effect results from the formation of a strongly correlated quantum liquid of electrons. This quantum liquid supports remarkable quasiparticle excitations, which carry a fractional charge and are thought to obey fractional statistics beyond the familiar Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac statistics. The theoretical understanding of the topological orders realized by the fractional quantum Hall states has progressed by the proposal of explicit trial wave functions as well as various types of effective field theories. This dissertation focuses on two series of trial wave functions, abelian and non-abelian hierarchy wave functions. We study the non-abelian hierarchy wave functions using conformal field theory techniques, by means of which the associated topological properties are studied. These include the fractional charges of the quasiparticles and their non-abelian fractional statistics. In addition, we study abelian hierarchy wave functions using effective Ginzburg-Landau theories in a way that connects to their known conformal field theory description.
The fractional quantum Hall effect is the paradigmatic example of topologically ordered phases. One of its most fascinating aspects is the large variety of different topological orders that may be realized, in particular non-Abelian ones. Here we analyze a class of non-Abelian fractional quantum Hall model states which are generalizations of the Abelian Haldane-Halperin hierarchy. We derive their topological properties and show that the quasiparticles obey non-Abelian fusion rules of type su(q)k\mathrm{su}{\left(q\right)}_{k}su(q)k​. For a subset of these states we are able to derive the conformal field theory description that makes the topological properties---in particular braiding---of the state manifest. The model states we study provide explicit wave functions for a large variety of interesting topological orders, which may be relevant for certain fractional quantum Hall states observed in the first excited Landau level.