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arXiv:2609.02976

Valley polarization dependence of candidate even-denominator fractional quantum Hall states in monolayer graphene

Saswata Sahu, Amarendra Pr. Indra, Moumita Indra

cond-mat.str-elquant-phSubmitted Sep 2, 2026• Announced Sep 3, 2026
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Abstract

We investigate even-denominator fractional quantum Hall (EDFQH) states in monolayer graphene, focusing on the experimentally observed filling fractions $ν= 1/2$ and $ν= 1/4$. Owing to the approximate SU(4) symmetry arising from spin and valley degrees of freedom, graphene hosts a rich variety of multi-component fractional quantum Hall states with different polarization configurations. Using the Chern-Simons composite fermion framework for SU(4) systems, we construct candidate variational wave functions corresponding to distinct spin, valley, and mixed polarization states. The ground-state energies of these states are evaluated numerically using the Coulomb interaction in spherical geometry. By comparing energies across different polarization sectors, we identify the energetically favored configurations at $ν= 1/2$ and $ν= 1/4$. Our variational energy comparison suggests that the energetically favored candidate states correspond to multi-component correlated quantum Hall liquids. Within the restricted family of trial states considered here, these states differ from a simple composite-fermion Fermi-sea description. These findings provide insight into the role of valley polarization and SU(4) symmetry in stabilizing even-denominator fractional quantum Hall states in graphene.

DOI
10.1209/0295-5075/ae9791
Comments
7 pages, 3 figures

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Single-layer and Bilayer of graphene are new classes of two-dimensional electron systems with unconventional band structures and valley degrees of freedom. The ground states and excitations in the integer and fractional quantum Hall regimes are investigated on torus and spherical geometries with the use of the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) method. At nonzero Landau level indices, the ground states at effective filling factors 1, 1/3, 2/3 and 2/5 are valley polarized both in single-layer and bilayer graphenes. We examine the elementary charge excitations which could couple with the valley degrees of freedom (so called valley skyrmions). The excitation gaps are calculated and extrapolated to the thermodynamic limit. The largest excitation gap at effective filling 1/3 is obtained in bilayer graphene, which is a good candidate for experimental observation of fractional quantum Hall effect.
Recent experiments in monolayer and trilayer graphene have observed incompressible even-denominator fractional quantum Hall states within narrow regions of parameter space associated with crossings of zeroth Landau levels. This is surprising because at half filling the Coulomb interaction in the zeroth Landau level is expected to favour a compressible composite Fermi liquid. Here we provide the first quantitative energetic study of the candidate incompressible phases and of the microscopic mechanisms that can stabilise them near such Landau-level crossings. Using exact diagonalization and infinite density-matrix renormalisation group, we first study ultra-short-range corrections to the Coulomb interaction arising from finite layer separation, lattice-scale effects, and electron-phonon coupling. We find that a sufficiently strong attractive short-range interaction drives the composite Fermi liquid first into a weakly paired ddd-wave pseudospin-singlet state and subsequently into a strongly paired state. However, microscopic estimates of these short-range corrections are far too small to stabilise either incompressible phase. We then incorporate Landau-level mixing through screening within the random-phase approximation. Screening substantially reshapes the effective interaction, suppresses the weak-pairing regime, and strongly enhances the tendency toward strong pairing. For a realistic range of microscopic parameters, the strongly paired phase is stabilised over a substantial fraction of that range. Our results identify the interplay of Landau-level mixing and ultra-short-range interactions as a plausible microscopic mechanism for the experimentally observed incompressible states in monolayer and trilayer graphene and point toward a strongly paired composite-fermion phase as their candidate ground state.
We report on an exact diagonalization study of fractional quantum Hall states at a filling factor of ν=2/3 in a system with a fourfold degenerate n=0 Landau level and SU(4) symmetric Coulomb interactions. Our investigation reveals previously unidentified SU(3) and SU(4) singlet ground states which appear at a flux quantum shift 2 when a spherical geometry is employed and lie outside the established composite-fermion or multicomponent Halperin state patterns. We evaluate the two-particle correlation functions of these states and discuss quantum phase transitions in graphene between singlet states with a different number of components as the magnetic field strength is increased.
We consider trial wave functions exhibiting SU(K)\text{SU}(K)SU(K) symmetry, which may be well suited to grasp the physics of the fractional quantum Hall effect with internal degrees of freedom. Systems of relevance may be either spin-unpolarized states (K=2)(K=2)(K=2), semiconductor bilayers (K=2,4)(K=2,4)(K=2,4), or graphene (K=4)(K=4)(K=4). We find that some introduced states are unstable, undergoing phase separation or phase transition. This allows us to strongly reduce the set of candidate wave functions eligible for a particular filling factor. The stability criteria are obtained with the help of Laughlin's plasma analogy, which we systematically generalize to the multicomponent SU(K)\text{SU}(K)SU(K) case. The validity of these criteria is corroborated by exact-diagonalization studies for SU(2) and SU(4). Furthermore, we study the pair-correlation functions of the ground state and elementary charged excitations within the multicomponent plasma picture.
We apply Fermi hypernetted-chain theory to study the spin polarization of higher-order fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states at filling factors in between the primary FQH sequences, $\ensuremath{\nu}=p/({q}_{e}p\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1)$, where qe{q}_{e}qe​ is an even integer and ppp is a nonzero integer. The filling factors related to the higher-order FQH states include $\ensuremath{\nu}=3/8$, 4/114/114/11, 5/135/135/13, 5/175/175/17, 4/134/134/13, 6/176/176/17, 7/117/117/11, and so on. We use a model of strongly interacting fermions with different spin degrees of freedom to explain the states beyond primary FQH sequences. We calculate the correlation energy, the radial distribution function, as well as the static structure function associated with the Halperin wave function adopted for the mixture states of fermions with different spins. The results are comparable with those from the residual interaction between composite fermions.
We compare quantum Hall systems at filling factors $\ensuremath{\nu}=2$ to $\ensuremath{\nu}=\frac{2}{3}$ and 25\frac{2}{5}52​, corresponding to the exact filling of two lowest electron or composite fermion (CF) Landau levels. The two fractional states are examples of CF liquids with spin dynamics. There is a close analogy between the ferromagnetic (spin polarization P=1P=1P=1) and paramagnetic (P=0)(P=0)(P=0) incompressible ground states that occur in all three systems in the limits of large and small Zeeman spin splitting. However, the excitation spectra are different. At $\ensuremath{\nu}=2$, we find spin domains at half-polarization (P=12)(P=\frac{1}{2})(P=21​), while antiferromagnetic order seems most favorable in the CF systems. The transition between P=0P=0P=0 and 1, as seen when, e.g., the magnetic field is tilted, is also studied by exact diagonalization in toroidal and spherical geometries. The essential role of an effective CF-CF interaction is discussed, and the experimentally observed incompressible half-polarized state is found in some models.