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arXiv:0907.0672

Tao-Thouless Revisited

T. H. Hansson, A. Karlhede

Published Jul 3, 2009• 2 citations
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Abstract

It is now established that the state proposed by Tao and Thouless for the fractional quantum Hall effect in 1983, shortly after Laughlin's work, is the ground state in the so-called Tao-Thouless limit, and that it is adiabatically connected to the Laughlin state. We review the interesting history of the Tao-Thouless state, and its generalizations, and discuss its relevance and shortcomings. In particular, we calculate the exclusion statistics of quasiparticles in the Tao-Thouless limit and point out a principal difficulty which prevents calculation of the fractional exchange statistics in this limit.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.0907.0672

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It is now established that the state proposed by Tao and Thouless for the fractional quantum Hall effect in 1983, shortly after Laughlin's work, is the ground state in the so-called Tao-Thouless limit, and that it is adiabatically connected to the Laughlin state. We review the interesting history of the Tao-Thouless state, and its generalizations, and discuss its relevance and shortcomings. In particular, we calculate the exclusion statistics of quasiparticles in the Tao-Thouless limit and point out a principal difficulty which prevents calculation of the fractional exchange statistics in this limit.
It is shown that the wave function proposed by Tao and Thouless to explain the fractional quantization of the Hall current implies long-range correlations between the electrons that are very different from the properties expected from Laughlin's wave function. Calculations for a small number of electrons have shown that Laughlin's wave function is an excellent approximation to the true ground state, so it must be concluded that the Tao-Thouless wave function is not a good approximation. There is some discussion of the question of broken symmetry.
Laughlin's wave functions, which describe the fractional quantum Hall effect at filling factors $\ensuremath{\nu}=1/(2k+1)$, can be obtained as correlation functions in a conformal field theory, and recently, this construction was extended to Jain's composite fermion wave functions at filling factors $\ensuremath{\nu}=n/(2kn+1)$. Here, we generalize this latter construction and present ground state wave functions for all quantum Hall hierarchy states that are obtained by successive condensation of quasielectrons (as opposed to quasiholes) in the original hierarchy construction. By considering these wave functions on a cylinder, we show that they approach the exact ground states, which are the Tao-Thouless states, when the cylinder becomes thin. We also present wave functions for the multihole states, make the connection to Wen's general classification of Abelian quantum Hall fluids, and discuss whether the fractional statistics of the quasiparticles can be analytically determined. Finally, we discuss to what extent our wave functions can be described in the language of composite fermions.
We consider spin-polarized electrons in a single Landau level on a torus. The quantum Hall problem is mapped onto a one-dimensional lattice model with lattice constant $2\ensuremath{\pi}/{L}_{1}$, where L1{L}_{1}L1​ is a circumference of the torus (in units of the magnetic length). In the Tao-Thouless limit ${L}_{1}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$, the interacting many-electron problem is exactly diagonalized at any rational filling factor $\ensuremath{\nu}=p/q\ensuremath{\le}1$. For odd qqq, the ground state has the same qualitative properties as a bulk $({L}_{1}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty})$ quantum Hall hierarchy state and the lowest-energy quasiparticle excitations have the same fractional charges as in the bulk. These states are the ${L}_{1}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$ limits of the Laughlin and Jain wave functions for filling fractions where these exist. We argue that the exact solutions generically, for odd qqq, are continuously connected to the two-dimensional bulk quantum Hall hierarchy states---i.e., that there is no phase transition as ${L}_{1}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}$ for filling factors where such states can be observed. For even-denominator fractions, a phase transition occurs as L1{L}_{1}L1​ increases. For $\ensuremath{\nu}=1/2$ this leads to the system being mapped onto a Luttinger liquid of neutral particles at small but finite L1{L}_{1}L1​; this then develops continuously into the composite fermion wave function that is believed to describe the bulk $\ensuremath{\nu}=1/2$ system. The analysis generalizes to non-Abelian quantum Hall states.
We consider spin-polarized Abelian quantum Hall states in the Tao–Thouless limit, i.e. on a thin torus. For any filling factor ν = p / q a well-defined sector of low energy states is identified and the exclusion statistics of the excitations is determined. We study numerically, at and near ν = 1/3 and 2/5, how the low energy states develop as one moves away from the Tao–Thouless limit towards the physical regime. We find that the lowest energy states in the physical regime develop from states in the low energy sector but that the exclusion statistics is modified.
We discuss the relationship between the fractional quantum Hall effect in the vicinity of the thin-torus, a.k.a. Tao-Thouless (TT), limit and quantum spin chains. We argue that the energetics of fractional quantum Hall states in Jain sequence at filling fraction ν = p /(2 p + 1) (and ν = 1 − p /(2 p + 1)) in the lowest Landau level is captured by S = 1 spin chains with p spins in the unit cell. These spin chains naturally arise at sub-leading order in e −2π 2 / L 2 1 which serves as an expansion parameter away from the TT limit ( L 1 → 0). We also corroborate earlier results on the smooth Fermi surface deformation of the gapless state at ν = 1/2, interpolating between a state described by a critical S = 1/2 chain and the bulk.
The fractional quantum Hall effect was experimentally discovered in 1982. It was observed that the Hall conductivity σyx of a two-dimensional electron system is quantized, σyx=e2/3h, in the vicinity of the Landau level filling factor ν=1/3. In 1983, Laughlin proposed a trial many-body wave function, which he claimed described a “new state of matter”—a homogeneous incompressible liquid with fractionally charged quasiparticles. Here, I develop an exact diagonalization theory that allows one to calculate the energy and other physical properties of the ground and excited states of a system of N two-dimensional Coulomb interacting electrons in a strong magnetic field. I analyze the energies, electron densities, and other physical properties of the systems with N≤7 electrons continuously as a function of magnetic field in the range 1/4≲ν<1. The results show that both the ground and excited states of the system resemble a sliding Wigner crystal whose parameters are influenced by the magnetic field. Energy gaps in the many-particle spectra appear and disappear as the magnetic field changes. I also calculate the physical properties of the ν=1/3 Laughlin state for N≤8 and compare the results with the exact ones. This comparison, as well as an analysis of some other statements published in the literature, show that the Laughlin state and its fractionally charged excitations do not describe the physical reality, neither at small N nor in the thermodynamic limit. The results obtained shed new light on the nature of the ground and excited states in the fractional quantum Hall effect.