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arXiv:1606.03919 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Pairing instabilities of Dirac composite fermions

Milica V. Milovanović, Marija Dimitrijević Ćirić, Vladimir Juričić

Published Sep 8, 2016• 6 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Recently, a Dirac (particle-hole symmetric) description of composite fermions in the half-filled Landau level (LL) was proposed [D. T. Son, Phys. Rev. X 5, 031027 (2015)], and we study its possible consequences on BCS (Cooper) pairing of composite fermions (CFs). One of the main consequences is the existence of anisotropic states in single-layer and bilayer systems, which was previously suggested in Jeong and Park [J. S. Jeong and K. Park, Phys. Rev. B 91, 195119 (2015)]. We argue that in the half-filled LL in the single-layer case the gapped states may sustain anisotropy, because isotropic pairings may coexist with anisotropic ones. Furthermore, anisotropic pairings with the addition of a particle-hole symmetry-breaking mass term may evolve into rotationally symmetric states, i.e., Pfaffian states of Halperin-Lee-Read (HLR) ordinary CFs. On the basis of the Dirac formalism, we argue that in the quantum Hall bilayer at total filling factor 1, with decreasing distance between the layers, weak pairing of $p$-wave paired CFs is gradually transformed from Dirac to ordinary, HLR-like, with a concomitant decrease in the CF number. Global characterization of low-energy spectra based on the Dirac CFs agrees well with previous calculations performed by exact diagonalization on a torus. Finally, we discuss features of the Dirac formalism when applied in this context.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.94.115304

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Recently, a Dirac (particle-hole symmetric) description of composite fermions in the half-filled Landau level (LL) was proposed [D. T. Son, Phys. Rev. X 5, 031027 (2015)], and we study its possible consequences on BCS (Cooper) pairing of composite fermions (CFs). One of the main consequences is the existence of anisotropic states in single-layer and bilayer systems, which was previously suggested in Jeong and Park [J. S. Jeong and K. Park, Phys. Rev. B 91, 195119 (2015)]. We argue that in the half-filled LL in the single-layer case the gapped states may sustain anisotropy, because isotropic pairings may coexist with anisotropic ones. Furthermore, anisotropic pairings with the addition of a particle-hole symmetry-breaking mass term may evolve into rotationally symmetric states, i.e., Pfaffian states of Halperin-Lee-Read (HLR) ordinary CFs. On the basis of the Dirac formalism, we argue that in the quantum Hall bilayer at total filling factor 1, with decreasing distance between the layers, weak pairing of ppp-wave paired CFs is gradually transformed from Dirac to ordinary, HLR-like, with a concomitant decrease in the CF number. Global characterization of low-energy spectra based on the Dirac CFs agrees well with previous calculations performed by exact diagonalization on a torus. Finally, we discuss features of the Dirac formalism when applied in this context.
Building on previous work [N. Read, Phys. Rev. B 58, 16262 (1998); Z. Dong and T. Senthil, Phys. Rev. B 102, 205126 (2020)] on the system of bosons at filling factor $\ensuremath{\nu}=1$, we derive the Dirac composite fermion theory for a half-filled Landau level from first principles and apply the Hartree-Fock approach in a preferred representation. On the basis of the microscopic formulation, in the long-wavelength limit, we propose a noncommutative field-theoretical description, which in a commutative limit reproduces the Son's theory, with additional terms that may be expected on physical grounds. The microscopic representation of the problem is also used to discuss pairing instabilities of composite fermions. We find that a presence of a particle-hole symmetry breaking leads to a weak (BCS) coupling ppp-wave pairing in the lowest Landau level, and strong coupling ppp-wave pairing in the second Landau level that occurs in a band with nearly flat dispersion, a third power function of momentum.
We propose a particle-hole symmetric theory of the Fermi-liquid ground state of a half-filled Landau level. This theory should be applicable for a Dirac fermion in the magnetic field at charge neutrality, as well as for the v = 1/2 quantum Hall ground state of nonrelativistic fermions in the limit of negligible inter-Landau-level mixing. We argue that when particle-hole symmetry is exact, the composite fermion is a massless Dirac fermion, characterized by a Berry phase of π around the Fermi circle. We write down a tentative effective field theory of such a fermion and discuss the discrete symmetries, in particular, C P. The Dirac composite fermions interact through a gauge, but non-Chern-Simons, interaction. The particle-hole conjugate pair of Jain-sequence states at filling factors n/(2n + 1) and (n + 1)/(2n + 1), which in the conventional composite fermion picture corresponds to integer quantum Hall states with different filling factors, n and n + 1, is now mapped to the same half-integer filling factor n + 1/2 of the Dirac composite fermion. The Pfaffian and anti-Pfaffian states are interpreted as d -wave Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer paired states of the Dirac fermion with orbital angular momentum of opposite signs, while s -wave pairing would give rise to a particle-hole symmetric non-Abelian gapped phase. When particle-hole symmetry is not exact, the Dirac fermion has a C P -breaking mass. The conventional fermionic Chern-Simons theory is shown to emerge in the nonrelativistic limit of the massive theory.
In a recent proposal of the half-filled Landau level, the composite fermions are taken to be Dirac particles and particle-hole symmetric. Cooper pairing of these composite fermions in different angular momentum channels, $\ensuremath{\ell}$, can give rise to different kinds of Pfaffian states. In addition to the well-known Moore-Read Pfaffian and anti-Pfaffian states, a new putative particle-hole symmetric Pfaffian state, corresponding to the sss-wave pairing channel, was also proposed. However, the possible underlying pairing mechanism is not clear at all. In this work we provide a specific pairing mechanism for realizing some of these Pfaffian states. We show that there can be nonzero pairing in angular momentum channels $|\ensuremath{\ell}|\ensuremath{\ge}1$ depending on the magnitude of a coupling constant. There is a quantum phase transition from the Dirac composite Fermi-liquid state to Cooper pairing states in angular momentum channels $|\ensuremath{\ell}|\ensuremath{\ge}1$ as the coupling constant is tuned across its critical point value. Surprisingly the particle-hole symmetric $\ensuremath{\ell}=0$ channel pairing turns out to be impossible irrespective of the size of the coupling constant.
We consider the Hall conductivity of composite fermions in the theory of Halperin, Lee, and Read (HLR) [B. I. Halperin, P. A. Lee, and N. Read, Phys. Rev. B 47, 7312 (1993)]. We present a fully quantum-mechanical numerical calculation that shows, under suitable conditions, the HLR theory exhibits a particle-hole symmetric dc electrical Hall response in the presence of quenched disorder. Remarkably, this response of the HLR theory remains robust even when the disorder range is of the order of the Fermi wavelength. We find that deviations from the particle-hole symmetric response can appear in the ac Hall conductivity at frequencies sufficiently large compared to the inverse system size. Our results agree with a recent semiclassical analysis by Wang et al. [C. Wang, N. R. Cooper, B. I. Halperin, and A. Stern, Phys. Rev. X 7, 031029 (2017)] and complement the arguments based on the fully quantum-mechanical model by Kumar et al. [P. Kumar, M. Mulligan, and S. Raghu, Phys. Rev. B 98, 115105 (2018)]. These results provide further evidence that the HLR theory is compatible with an emergent particle-hole symmetry.
We study Cooper pairing in the Dirac composite fermion (CF) system. The presence of the mass term in the Dirac CF description (which may simulate Landau level mixing), i.e., breaking of particle-hole (PH) symmetry in this system, is a necessary condition for the existence of a PH Pfaffian-like topological state. In the scope of the random-phase approximation (RPA) and hydrodynamic approach, we find some signatures of pairing at finite frequencies. Motivated by this insight, we extend our analysis to the case of a different but still Dirac quasiparticle (CF) representation, appropriate in the presence of a mass term, and discuss the likelihood of PH Pfaffian and Pfaffian pairings in general. On the basis of gauge field effects, we find for a small Dirac mass, an anti-Pfaffian or Pfaffian instability depending on the sign of mass, while for large mass (Landau level mixing), irrespective of its sign, we find a PH Pfaffian-like instability.
Here, the authors investigate the possibility that particle-hole symmetry in the lowest Landau level at half filling arises as an emergent low-energy symmetry. Specifically, they start with the traditional approach to the half-filled Landau level: an effective field theory known as the composite Fermi liquid pioneered by Halperin, Lee, and Read. In this theory, composite fermions arise when flux is attached to electrons in a half-filled Landau level. However, an equivalent starting point is one where one starts with a filled Landau level, depletes electrons (or equivalently, adds holes) to the point of half filling. One then attaches flux to the holes, and the resulting composite hole description is another viable description of the half-filled Landau level. The authors construct a particle-hole symmetric theory by studying a system consisting of alternating quasi-one-dimensional strips of composite Fermi liquid (CFL) and composite hole liquid (CHL), both of which break particle-hole symmetry. Gauge invariance requires the existence of gapless edge modes at the interface between the CFL and CHL. Out of these modes, they construct a neutral Dirac fermion coupled to an emergent U(1) gauge field. Thus, at distances long compared to the strip width, they demonstrate that the system is described by a Dirac fermion coupled to an emergent gauge field, with an anti-unitary particle-hole symmetry, precisely the form conjectured recently by Son to be the low-energy description of a particle-hole symmetric half-filled Landau level.