arXiv:1502.02671 · Physical Review B
Abelian and non-Abelian states in ν=2/3 bilayer fractional quantum Hall systems
Michael R. Peterson, Yang-Le Wu, Meng Cheng, Maissam Barkeshli, Zhenghan Wang, S. Das Sarma
Abstract
There are several possible theoretically allowed non-Abelian fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states that could potentially be realized in one- and two-component FQH systems at total filling fraction $\ensuremath{\nu}=n+2/3$, for integer $n$. Some of these states even possess quasiparticles with non-Abelian statistics that are powerful enough for universal topological quantum computation, and are thus of particular interest. Here we initiate a systematic numerical study, using both exact diagonalization and variational Monte Carlo, to investigate the phase diagram of FQH systems at total filling fraction $\ensuremath{\nu}=n+2/3$, including in particular the possibility of the non-Abelian ${Z}_{4}$ parafermion state. In $\ensuremath{\nu}=2/3$ bilayers we determine the phase diagram as a function of interlayer tunneling and repulsion, finding only three competing Abelian states, without the ${Z}_{4}$ state. On the other hand, in single-component systems at $\ensuremath{\nu}=8/3$, we find that the ${Z}_{4}$ parafermion state has significantly higher overlap with the exact ground state than the Laughlin state, together with a larger gap, suggesting that the experimentally observed $\ensuremath{\nu}=8/3$ state may be non-Abelian. Our results from the two complementary numerical techniques agree well with each other qualitatively.