The Moore-Read state, one of the leading candidates for describing the fractional quantum Hall effect at filling factor ν=5/2, is a paradigmatic p-wave superconductor with non-Abelian topological order. Among its many exotic properties, the state hosts two collective modes: a bosonic density wave and a neutral fermion mode that arises from an unpaired electron in the condensate. It has recently been proposed that the descriptions of the two modes can be unified by postulating supersymmetry (SUSY) that relates them in the long-wavelength limit. Here we extend the SUSY description to construct wave functions of the two modes on closed surfaces, such as the sphere and torus, and we test the resulting states in large-scale numerical simulations. We demonstrate the equivalence in the long-wavelength limit between SUSY wave functions and previous descriptions of collective modes based on the Girvin-MacDonald-Platzman ansatz, Jack polynomials, and bipartite composite fermions. Leveraging the first-quantized form of the SUSY wave functions, we study their energies using the Monte Carlo method and show that realistic ν=5/2 systems are close to the putative SUSY point, where the two collective modes become degenerate in energy.
The Moore-Read state, one of the leading candidates for describing the fractional quantum Hall effect at filling factor ν=5/2, is a paradigmatic p-wave superconductor with non-Abelian topological order. Among its many exotic properties, the state hosts two collective modes: a bosonic density wave and a neutral fermion mode that arises from an unpaired electron in the condensate. It has recently been proposed that the descriptions of the two modes can be unified by postulating supersymmetry (SUSY) that relates them in the long-wavelength limit. Here we extend the SUSY description to construct wave functions of the two modes on closed surfaces, such as the sphere and torus, and we test the resulting states in large-scale numerical simulations. We demonstrate the equivalence in the long-wavelength limit between SUSY wave functions and previous descriptions of collective modes based on the Girvin-MacDonald-Platzman ansatz, Jack polynomials, and bipartite composite fermions. Leveraging the first-quantized form of the SUSY wave functions, we study their energies using the Monte Carlo method and show that realistic ν=5/2 systems are close to the putative SUSY point, where the two collective modes become degenerate in energy.
The Moore-Read Pfaffian (Pf) state exhibits two distinct neutral excitation modes, the bosonic magnetoroton mode, and the neutral fermion mode. These two modes have been conjectured to be supersymmetric (SUSY) partners in the long-wavelength limit. Previous studies on these neutral excitations of the Pf state have shown evidence in favor of SUSY in the vicinity of the second Landau level (SLL) Coulomb interaction. Inspired by that, using the framework of parton theory, we test the SUSY conjecture for a state that lies in the same universality class as the particle-hole conjugate of the Pf, namely the anti-Pf (aPf) state, by constructing explicit wave functions for its magnetoroton and neutral fermion excitations and evaluating them for very large system sizes. As with the previous studies on the Pf state, we find that the long-wavelength gaps of the neutral modes of the parton state belonging to the same topological class as the aPf are close to each other for the SLL Coulomb interaction. Furthermore, using the parton wave functions, we compute the dispersion of various neutral collective excitations, including the magnetoroton, neutral fermion, and parton-excitons, for several notable non-Abelian and Abelian states. Finally, we propose a parton-exciton ansatz for the gapped neutral excitation of the composite fermion Fermi liquid at quarter filling and compute its dispersion for the Coulomb interaction in the lowest Landau level.
The fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE), now entering it's fourth decade, continues to draw attention from the condensed matter community. New experiments in recent years are raising hopes that it will be possible to observe quasi-particles with non-abelian anyonic statistics. These particles could form the building blocks of a quantum computer. The quantum Hall states have topologically protected energy gaps to the low-lying set of excitations. This topological order is not a locally measurable quantity but rather a non-local object, and it is one of the keys to it's stability. From an early stage understanding of the FQHE has been facilitate by constructing trial wave functions. The topological classification of these wave functions have given further insight to the nature of the FQHE. An early, and successful, wave function construction for filling fractions ν=p/(2p+1) was that of composite fermions on planar and spherical geometries. Recently, new developments using conformal field theory have made it possible to also construct the full Haldane-Halperin hierarchy wave functions on planar and spherical geometries. In this thesis we extend this construction to a toroidal geometry, i.e. a flat surface with periodic boundary conditions. One of the defining features of topological states of matter in two dimensions is that the ground state is not unique on surfaces with non trivial topology, such as a torus. The archetypical example is the fractional quantum Hall effect, where a state at filling fraction ν=p/q, has at least a q-fold degeneracy on a torus. This has been shown explicitly for a few cases, such as the Laughlin states and the the Moore-Read states, by explicit construction of candidate electron wave functions with good overlap with numerically found states. In this thesis, we construct explicit torus wave functions for a large class of experimentally important quantum liquids, namely the chiral hierarchy states in the lowest Landau level. These states, which includes the prominently observed positive Jain sequence at filling fractions ν=p/(2p+1), are characterized by having boundary modes with only one chirality. Our construction relies heavily on previous work that expressed the hierarchy wave functions on a plane or a sphere in terms of correlation functions in a conformal field theory. This construction can be taken over to the torus when care is taken to ensure correct behaviour under the modular transformations that leave the geometry of the torus unchanged. Our construction solves the long standing problem of engineering torus wave functions for multi-component many-body states. Since the resulting expressions are rather complicated, we have carefully compared the simplest example, that of ν=2/5, with numerically found wave functions. We have found an extremely good overlap for arbitrary values of the modular parameter τ, that describes the geometry of the torus. Having explicit torus wave functions allows us to use the methods developed by Read and Read \\& Rezayi to numerically compute the quantum Hall viscosity. Hall viscosity is conjectured to be a topologically protected macroscopic transport coefficient characterizing the quantum Hall state. It is related to the shift of the same QH-fluid when it is put on a sphere. The good agreement with the theoretical prediction for the 2/5 state strongly suggests that our wave functions encodes all relevant topologically information. We also consider the Hall viscosity in the limit of a very thin torus. There we find that the viscosity changes as we approach the thin torus limit. Because of this we study the Laughlin state in that limit and see how the change in viscosity arises from a change in the Hamiltonian hopping elements. Finally we conclude that there are both qualitative and quantitative difference between the thin and the square torus. Thus, one has to be careful when interpreting results in the thin torus limit.
Supersymmetry (SUSY) is a symmetry transforming bosons to fermions and vice versa. Indications of its existence have been extensively sought after in high-energy experiments. However, signatures of SUSY have yet to be detected. In this paper we study a condensed matter realization of SUSY on the edge of a Read-Rezayi quantum Hall state, given by filling factors of the form $\ensuremath{\nu}=\frac{k}{k+2}$, where k is an integer. As we show explicitly, this strongly interacting state exhibits an N=2 SUSY. This allows us to use a topological invariant---the Witten index---defined specifically for supersymmetric theories, to count the difference between the number of bosonic and fermionic zero modes in a circular edge. In this system, we argue that the edge hosts k+1 protected zero modes. We further discuss the stability of SUSY with respect to generic perturbations and find that much of the above results remain unchanged. In particular, these results directly apply to the well-established $\ensuremath{\nu}=1/3$ Laughlin state, in which case SUSY is a robust property of the edge theory. These results unveil a hidden topological structure on the long-studied Read-Rezayi states.
The fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE), now entering it's fourth decade, continues to draw attention from the condensed matter community. New experiments in recent years are raising hopes that it will be possible to observe quasi-particles with non-abelian anyonic statistics. These particles could form the building blocks of a quantum computer.The quantum Hall states have topologically protected energy gaps to the low-lying set of excitations. This topological order is not a locally measurable quantity but rather a non-local object, and it is one of the keys to it's stability. From an early stage understanding of the FQHE has been facilitate by constructing trial wave functions. The topological classification of these wave functions have given further insight to the nature of the FQHE.An early, and successful, wave function construction for filling fractions ν=p/(2p+1) was that of composite fermions on planar and spherical geometries. Recently, new developments using conformal field theory have made it possible to also construct the full Haldane-Halperin hierarchy wave functions on planar and spherical geometries. In this thesis we extend this construction to a toroidal geometry, i.e. a flat surface with periodic boundary conditions.One of the defining features of topological states of matter in two dimensions is that the ground state is not unique on surfaces with non trivial topology, such as a torus. The archetypical example is the fractional quantum Hall effect, where a state at filling fraction ν=p/q, has at least a q-fold degeneracy on a torus. This has been shown explicitly for a few cases, such as the Laughlin states and the the Moore-Read states, by explicit construction of candidate electron wave functions with good overlap with numerically found states. In this thesis, we construct explicit torus wave functions for a large class of experimentally important quantum liquids, namely the chiral hierarchy states in the lowest Landau level. These states, which includes the prominently observed positive Jain sequence at filling fractions ν=p/(2p+1), are characterized by having boundary modes with only one chirality.Our construction relies heavily on previous work that expressed the hierarchy wave functions on a plane or a sphere in terms of correlation functions in a conformal field theory. This construction can be taken over to the torus when care is taken to ensure correct behaviour under the modular transformations that leave the geometry of the torus unchanged. Our construction solves the long standing problem of engineering torus wave functions for multi-component many-body states. Since the resulting expressions are rather complicated, we have carefully compared the simplest example, that of ν=2/5, with numerically found wave functions. We have found an extremely good overlap for arbitrary values of the modular parameter τ, that describes the geometry of the torus.Having explicit torus wave functions allows us to use the methods developed by Read and Read \& Rezayi to numerically compute the quantum Hall viscosity. Hall viscosity is conjectured to be a topologically protected macroscopic transport coefficient characterizing the quantum Hall state. It is related to the shift of the same QH-fluid when it is put on a sphere. The good agreement with the theoretical prediction for the 2/5 state strongly suggests that our wave functions encodes all relevant topologically information.We also consider the Hall viscosity in the limit of a very thin torus. There we find that the viscosity changes as we approach the thin torus limit. Because of this we study the Laughlin state in that limit and see how the change in viscosity arises from a change in the Hamiltonian hopping elements. Finally we conclude that there are both qualitative and quantitative difference between the thin and the square torus. Thus, one has to be careful when interpreting results in the thin torus limit.
The quantum dynamics of the intrinsic metric profoundly influence the neutral excitations in the fractional quantum Hall system, as established by Haldane [Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 116801 (2011)], and further evidenced by a recent two-photon experiment [J. Liang et al., Nature (London) 628, 78 (2024)]. Despite these advancements, a comprehensive understanding of the dynamic properties of these excitations, especially at long wavelengths, continues to elude interest. In this study, we employ tensor-network methods to investigate the neutral excitations of the Laughlin and Moore-Read states on an infinite cylinder. This investigation deepens our understanding of the excitation spectrum in regions where traditional methods do not work effectively. The spectral functions for both states reveal the presence of $S=\ensuremath{-}2$ geometric excitations. We unveil the complex spectra of both neutral fermion and bosonic Girvin-MacDonald-Platzman modes within the excitation continuum by calculating the three-particle density response function for the Moore-Read state. Our findings support the hypothesis of emergent supersymmetry and highlight the potential for detecting neutral fermions in future experiments.
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.