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arXiv:1606.05353 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Neutral excitations in the Gaffnian state

Byungmin Kang, Joel E. Moore

Published Jun 15, 2017• 13 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We study a model fractional quantum Hall (FQH) wave function called the Gaffnian state, which is believed to represent a gapless, strongly correlated state that is very different from conventional metals. To understand this exotic gapless state better, we provide a representation based on work of Halperin in which the pairing structure of the Gaffnian state becomes more explicit. We employ the single-mode approximation introduced by Girvin, MacDonald, and Platzman, here extended to three-body interactions, in order to treat a neutral collective excitation mode in order to clarify the physical origin of the gaplessness of the Gaffnian state. We discuss approaches to extract systematically the relevant physics in the long-distance, large-electron-number limit of FQH states using numerical calculations with relatively few electrons. In Appendices, we provide second-quantized expressions for many-body Haldane pseudopotentials in various geometries including the plane, sphere, cylinder, and torus based on the proper definition of the relative angular momentum.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.95.245117

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We study a model fractional quantum Hall (FQH) wave function called the Gaffnian state, which is believed to represent a gapless, strongly correlated state that is very different from conventional metals. To understand this exotic gapless state better, we provide a representation based on work of Halperin in which the pairing structure of the Gaffnian state becomes more explicit. We employ the single-mode approximation introduced by Girvin, MacDonald, and Platzman, here extended to three-body interactions, in order to treat a neutral collective excitation mode in order to clarify the physical origin of the gaplessness of the Gaffnian state. We discuss approaches to extract systematically the relevant physics in the long-distance, large-electron-number limit of FQH states using numerical calculations with relatively few electrons. In Appendices, we provide second-quantized expressions for many-body Haldane pseudopotentials in various geometries including the plane, sphere, cylinder, and torus based on the proper definition of the relative angular momentum.
The fractional quantum Hall (FQH) effect plays a prominent role in the study of topological phases of matter and of strongly correlated electron systems in general. FQH systems have been demonstrated to show many interesting novel properties such as fractional charges, and are believed to harbor even more intriguing phenomena such as fractional statistics. However, there remain many interesting questions to be addressed in this regime. The work reported in this thesis aims to push the envelope of our understanding of the low-energy properties of FQH states using microscopic principles. In the first part of the thesis, we present a systematic perturbative approach to study excitations in the thin cylinder/torus limit of the quantum Hall states. The approach is applied to the Haldane-Rezayi and Gaffnian quantum Hall states, which are both expected to have gapless excitations in the usual two-dimensional thermodynamic limit. For the Haldane-Rezayi state, we confirm that gapless excitations are present also in the ``one-dimensional'' thermodynamic limit of an infinite thin cylinder, in agreement with earlier considerations based on the wave functions alone. In contrast, we identify the lowest excitations of the Gaffnian state in the thin cylinder limit, and conclude that they are gapped, using a combination of perturbative and numerical means. We discuss possible scenarios for the cross-over between the two-dimensional and the one-dimensional thermodynamic limit in this case. In the second part of the thesis, we study the low energy spectral properties of positive center-of-mass conserving two-body Hamiltonians as they arise in models of FQH states. Starting from the observation that positive many-body Hamiltonians must have ground state energies that increase monotonously in particle number, we explore what general additional constraints can be obtained for two-body interactions with "center-of-mass conservation" symmetry, both in the presence and absence of particle-hole symmetry. We find general bounds that constrain the evolution of the ground state energy with particle number, and in particular constrain the chemical potential at T=0. Special attention is given to Hamiltonians with zero modes, in which case similar bounds on the first excited state are also obtained, using a duality property. In this case, in particular an upper bound on the charge gap is also obtained. We further comment on center-of-mass and relative-decomposition in disk geometry within the framework of second quantization.
Neutral excitations in a fractional quantum Hall droplet define the incompressibility gap of the topological phase. In this paper, we derive a set of analytical results for the energy gap of the graviton modes with two-body and three-body Hamiltonians in both the long-wavelength and the thermodynamic limit. These allow us to construct model Hamiltonians for the graviton modes in different FQH phases, and to elucidate a hierarchical structure of conformal Hilbert spaces (null spaces of model Hamiltonians) with respect to the graviton modes and their corresponding ground states. Using the analytical tools developed, we perform numerical analysis with a particular focus on the Laughlin $\ensuremath{\nu}=1/5$ and the Gaffnian $\ensuremath{\nu}=2/5$ phases. Our calculation shows that for gapped phases, low-lying neutral excitations can undergo a ``phase transition'' even when the ground state is invariant. We discuss the compressibility of the Gaffnian phase, the possibility of multiple graviton modes, and the transition from the graviton modes to the ``hollow-core'' modes, as well as their experimental consequences.
We show the model wave functions for the neutral collective modes in fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states have simple analytic forms obtained from judicially reducing the powers of selected pairs in the ground state Jastrow factor. This scheme of ``pair excitations''works for the magnetoroton modes of single-component Abelian and non-Abelian FQH states, as well as the neutral fermion mode for the Moore-Read state. The analytic wave functions allow us to compute the ``quadrupole gap'' of the magnetoroton mode in the thermodynamic limit, which was previously inaccessible to the numerics. The quadrupole gap is related to the fusion of the charges in the two-dimensional plasma picture, extending the plasma analogy to neutral excitations. A lattice diagrammatic method of representing these many-body wave functions and FQH elementary excitations is also presented.
We show model wavefunctions for neutral collective modes in fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states have simple analytic forms obtained from judicially reducing the powers of selected pairs in the ground state Jastrow factor. This scheme of "pair excitations" works for the magneto-roton modes of single-component Abelian and non-Abeliean FQH states, as well as neutral fermion mode for the Moore-Read (MR) state. The analytic wavefunctions enable computations in the thermodynamic limit previous inaccessible to numerics, and the long wavelength limit of the neutral energy gap of the magneto-roton modes can be interpreted as fusion of charges in two-dimensional plasma picture, extending the plasma analogy to neutral excitations. A lattice diagrammatic method of representing these many-body wavefunctions and FQH elementary excitations is also presented.
The low-energy physics of fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states-a paradigm of strongly correlated topological phases of matter-to a large extent is captured by weakly interacting quasiparticles known as composite fermions.In this paper, based on numerical simulations and effective field theory, we argue that some high-energy states in the FQH spectra necessitate a different description based on parton quasiparticles.We show that Jain states at filling factor ν ¼ n=ð2pn Æ 1Þ with integers n, p ≥ 2 support two kinds of collective modes: In addition to the well-known Girvin-MacDonald-Platzman (GMP) mode, they host a high-energy collective mode, which we interpret as the GMP mode of partons.We elucidate observable signatures of the parton mode in the dynamics following a geometric quench.We construct a microscopic wave function for the parton mode and demonstrate agreement between its variational energy and exact diagonalization.Using the parton construction, we derive a field theory of the Jain states and show that the previously proposed effective theories follow from our approach.Our results point to partons being "real" quasiparticles which, in a way reminiscent of quarks, become observable only at sufficiently high energies.
We study the neutral excitations in the bulk of the fractional quantum Hall (FQH) fluids generated by acting with the Girvin-MacDonald-Platzman (GMP) density operator on the uniform ground state. Creating these density modulations atop the ground state costs energy, since any density fluctuation in the FQH system has a gap stemming from underlying interparticle interactions. We calculate the GMP density-mode dispersion for various bosonic and fermionic FQH states on the Haldane sphere using the ground-state static structure factor computed on the same geometry. Previously, this computation was carried out on the plane. Analogous to the GMP algebra of the lowest Landau level (LLL) projected density operators in the plane, we derive the algebra for the LLL-projected density operators on the sphere, which facilitates the computation of the density-mode dispersion. Contrary to previous results on the plane, we find that, in the long-wavelength limit, the GMP mode accurately describes the dynamics of the primary Jain states.