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arXiv:2303.12825 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Single-parameter variational wave functions for quantum Hall bilayers

Q.Y. Hu, Titus Neupert, Glenn Wagner

Published Apr 12, 2024• 3 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Bilayer quantum Hall states have been shown to be described by a BCS-paired state of composite fermions. However, finding a qualitatively accurate model state valid across all values of the bilayer separation is challenging. Here, we introduce two variational wave functions, each with a single variational parameter, which can be thought of as a proxy for the BCS order parameter. Studying systems of up to $9+9$ electrons in a spherical geometry using Monte Carlo methods, we show that the ground state can be accurately described by these single-parameter variational states. In addition, we provide a numerically exact wave function for the Halperin-111 state in terms of composite fermions.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.109.155138

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Bilayer quantum Hall states have been shown to be described by a BCS-paired state of composite fermions. However, finding a qualitatively accurate model state valid across all values of the bilayer separation is challenging. Here, we introduce two variational wave functions, each with a single variational parameter, which can be thought of as a proxy for the BCS order parameter. Studying systems of up to 9+99+99+9 electrons in a spherical geometry using Monte Carlo methods, we show that the ground state can be accurately described by these single-parameter variational states. In addition, we provide a numerically exact wave function for the Halperin-111 state in terms of composite fermions.
We introduce a new variational wave function for a quantum Hall bilayer at total filling ν_{T}=1, which is based on s-wave BCS pairing between electron composite fermions in one layer and hole composite fermions in the other. In addition, we reexamine a trial wave function based on p-wave BCS pairing between electron composite fermions in both layers. We compute the overlap of the optimized trial functions with the ground state from exact diagonalization calculations of up to 14 electrons in a spherical geometry, and we find excellent agreement over the entire range of values of the ratio between the layer separation and the magnetic length. The s-wave trial wave function naturally allows for charge imbalance between the layers and provides important insights into how the physics at large interlayer separations crosses over to that at small separations in a fashion analogous to the BEC-BCS crossover.
sss-wave paired composite-fermion electron-hole trial state for quantum Hall bilayers with ν=1\nu=1ν=1
We introduce a new variational wavefunction for a quantum Hall bilayer at total filling ν=1\nu = 1ν=1, which is based on sss-wave BCS pairing between composite-fermion electrons in one layer and composite-fermion holes in the other. We compute the overlap of the optimized trial function with the ground state from exact diagonalization calculations of up to 14 electrons in a spherical geometry, and we find excellent agreement over the entire range of values of the ratio between the layer separation and the magnetic length. The trial wavefunction naturally allows for charge imbalance between the layers and provides important insights into how the physics at large interlayer separations crosses over to that at small separations in a fashion analogous to the BEC-BCS crossover.
Quantum Hall bilayer systems at filling fractions near $\ensuremath{\nu}=\frac{1}{2}+\frac{1}{2}$ undergo a transition from a compressible phase with strong intralayer correlation to an incompressible phase with strong interlayer correlations as the layer separation ddd is reduced below some critical value. Deep in the intralayer phase (large separation) the system can be interpreted as a fluid of composite fermions (CFs), whereas deep in the interlayer phase (small separation) the system can be interpreted as a fluid of composite bosons (CBs). The focus of this paper is to understand the states that occur for intermediate layer separation by using trial variational wave functions. We consider two main classes of wave functions. In the first class, previously introduced in M\"oller et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 176803 (2008)], we consider interlayer BCS pairing of two independent CF liquids. We find that these wave functions are exceedingly good for $d\ensuremath{\gtrsim}{\ensuremath{\ell}}_{0}$ with ${\ensuremath{\ell}}_{0}$ as the magnetic length. The second class of wave functions naturally follows the reasoning of Simon et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 046803 (2003)] and generalizes the idea of pairing wave functions by allowing the CFs also to be replaced continuously by CBs. This generalization allows us to construct exceedingly good wave functions for interlayer spacings of $d\ensuremath{\lesssim}{\ensuremath{\ell}}_{0}$ as well. The accuracy of the wave functions discussed in this work, compared with exact diagonalization, approaches that of the celebrated Laughlin wave function.
Topological pairing of composite fermions has led to remarkable ideas, such as excitations obeying non-Abelian braid statistics and topological quantum computation. We construct a ppp-wave paired Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) wave function for composite fermions in the torus geometry, which is a convenient geometry for formulating momentum space pairing as well as for revealing the underlying composite-fermion Fermi sea. Following the standard BCS approach, we minimize the Coulomb interaction energy at half filling in the lowest and the second Landau levels, which correspond to filling factors $\ensuremath{\nu}=1/2$ and $\ensuremath{\nu}=5/2$ in GaAs quantum wells, by optimizing two variational parameters that are analogous to the gap and the Debye cutoff energy of the BCS theory. Our results show no evidence for pairing at $\ensuremath{\nu}=1/2$ but a clear evidence for pairing at $\ensuremath{\nu}=5/2$. To a good approximation, the highest overlap between the exact Coulomb ground state at $\ensuremath{\nu}=5/2$ and the BCS state is obtained for parameters that minimize the energy of the latter, thereby providing support for the physics of composite-fermion pairing as the mechanism for the 5/25/25/2 fractional quantum Hall effect. We discuss the issue of modular covariance of the composite-fermion BCS wave function, and calculate its Hall viscosity and pair correlation function. By similar methods, we look for but do not find an instability to sss-wave pairing for a spin-singlet composite-fermion Fermi sea at half-filled lowest Landau level in a system where the Zeeman splitting has been set to zero.
We study a class of ansatz wave functions in which composite fermions form two correlated "partitions." These "bipartite" composite fermion states are demonstrated to be very accurate for electrons in a strong magnetic field interacting via a short-range 3-body interaction potential over a broad range of filling factors. Furthermore, this approach gives accurate approximations for the exact Coulomb ground state at 2+3/5 and 2+4/7 and is thus a promising candidate for the observed fractional quantum Hall states at the hole conjugate fractions at 2+2/5 and 2+3/7.