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Physical Review Letters

Particle-hole plasma, topological terms, and the Chern-Simons theory of the fractional quantum Hall effect

Igor F. Herbut, Zlatko Tešanović

Published Dec 20, 1993• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

A novel representation is derived for the microscopic partition function of two-dimensional electrons confined to the lowest Landau level. The dynamics is described by the two-component quantum plasma of particles and holes. We find a topological term in the Euclidean microscopic action to be dynamically generated in this representation. Starting from this partition function we find uniform solutions of the equations of motion only at \ensuremath{\nu}=(2k+1${)}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$. At these special filling fractions the Chern-Simons theory arises as a saddle-point approximation to the microscopic action.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.71.4234

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A novel representation is derived for the microscopic partition function of two-dimensional electrons confined to the lowest Landau level. The dynamics is described by the two-component quantum plasma of particles and holes. We find a topological term in the Euclidean microscopic action to be dynamically generated in this representation. Starting from this partition function we find uniform solutions of the equations of motion only at \ensuremath{\nu}=(2k+1)\ensuremath−1{)}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1})\ensuremath−1. At these special filling fractions the Chern-Simons theory arises as a saddle-point approximation to the microscopic action.
Master's thesis in Theoretical Physics. The official university title is "Fractional Quantum Hall Effect: Current State and Perspectives"; this record uses the author's preferred, more descriptive title. This thesis develops a unified description of the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) and topological order through three complementary frameworks: microscopic trial many-body wavefunctions, the algebraic theory of anyons and unitary modular tensor categories, and Chern-Simons effective field theory. The first part covers the physical foundations—Landau quantization, the TKNN invariant, Laughlin's wavefunctions, the hierarchy and composite fermion theories, and some non-Abelian states like the Moore-Read Pfaffian state. The second part develops the algebraic theory of anyons, from the braid group to fusion rules, quantum dimensions, topological spins, and the F- and R-matrices that characterize a unitary modular tensor category. The third part constructs the Chern-Simons effective field theory, deriving fractional charge, statistics, and ground-state degeneracy, unifying Abelian states via the K-matrix formalism, and then generalizing to non-Abelian states through 𝑈(1)ₘ × 𝑆𝑈(𝑁)ₖ Chern-Simons theory. The central result is that Chern–Simons theory provides a field-theoretic realization of the topological order introduced microscopically and algebraically in the earlier chapters, closing the circle between the three descriptions and providing a unified framework for the FQHE and topological order and anyon's physics.
Motivated by the issue of particle-hole symmetry for the composite fermion Fermi sea at the half filled Landau level, Dam T. Son has made an intriguing proposal [Phys. Rev. X {\bf 5}, 031027 (2015)] that composite fermions are Dirac particles. We ask what features of the Dirac-composite fermion theory and its various consequences may be reconciled with the well established microscopic theory of the fractional quantum Hall effect and the 1/2 state, which is based on {\em non-relativistic} composite fermions. Starting from the microscopic theory, we derive the assertion of Son that the particle-hole transformation of electrons at filling factor ν=1/2\nu=1/2ν=1/2 corresponds to an effective time reversal transformation (i.e. {k⃗j}\{\vec{k}_j\}{kj​}→\rightarrow→{−k⃗j}\{-\vec{k}_j\}{−kj​}) for composite fermions, and discuss how this connects to the absence of 2kF2k_{\rm F}2kF​ backscattering in the presence of a particle-hole symmetric disorder. By considering bare holes in various composite-fermion Λ\LambdaΛ levels (analogs of electronic Landau levels) we determine the Λ\LambdaΛ level spacing and find it to be very nearly independent of the Λ\LambdaΛ level index, consistent with a parabolic dispersion for the underlying composite fermions. Finally, we address the compatibility of the Chern-Simons theory with the lowest Landau level constraint, and find that the wave functions of the mean-field Chern-Simons theory, as well as a class of topologically similar wave functions, are surprisingly accurate when projected into the lowest Landau level. These considerations lead us to introduce a normal form for the unprojected wave functions of the n/(2pn−1)n/(2pn-1)n/(2pn−1) states that correctly capture the topological properties even without lowest Landau level projection.
By noticing an equivalence of a many-body electron system in the lowest Landau level and that on a two-dimensional phase space, a new interpretation of the fractional quantum Hall effect is proposed from a viewpoint of a phase-space path-integral. Key concepts are a symplectic structure on the phase space and the Chern-Simons gauge field. Properties of quasi-particles and a generalization to the hierarchy are also discussed. Berry's phase considered by Arovas et al. plays an important role as the symplectic structure for the quasi-particles.
Quantum Hall systems offer the most familiar setting where strong interparticle interactions combine with the topology of single-particle states to yield novel phenomena. Despite our mature understanding of these systems, an open challenge has been to develop a microscopic theory capturing both their universal and nonuniversal properties, when the Hamiltonian is restricted to the noncommutative space of the lowest Landau level. Here we develop such a theory for the Jain sequence of bosonic fractional quantum Hall states at fillings $\ensuremath{\nu}=\frac{p}{p+1}$. Building on a lowest Landau level description of a parent composite Fermi liquid at $\ensuremath{\nu}=1$, we describe how to dope the system to reach the Jain states. Upon doping, the composite fermions fill noncommutative generalizations of Landau levels, and the Jain states correspond to integer composite fermion filling. Using this approach, we obtain an approximate expression for the bosonic Jain sequence gaps with no reference to any long-wavelength approximation. Furthermore, we show that the universal properties, such as Hall conductivity, are encoded in an effective noncommutative Chern-Simons theory, which is obtained on integrating out the composite fermions. This theory has the same topological content as the familiar Abelian Chern-Simons theory on commutative space.
We present an application of collective field theory to the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE). We first express the condition, that the electrons are all in the lowest Landau level, as a constraint equation for the state functional. We then derive the fractional filling factor from this equation together with the no-free-vortex assumption. A hierarchy of filling factors is derived by using the particle-vortex dual transformations. In the final section we discuss an attempt at a dynamical theory of FQHE, which would justify the no-free-vortex assumption. A derivation of Laughlin’s wave function with and without quasi-hole excitations is also given.
Over the years, many theoretical frameworks have been developed to understand the remarkable physics of the quantum Hall system. In this work we discuss the interplay among quantum wires, Chern-Simons theory, bosonization, and particle-vortex duality, which enable a unified approach for the Laughlin states of the fractional quantum Hall system. Starting from the so-called quantum wires system, which is a semimicroscopic description in terms of (1+1)(1+1)(1+1)-dimensional theories, we discuss the emergence of (2+1)(2+1)(2+1)-dimensional low-energy effective field theories by using different maps connecting the microscopic degrees of freedom with the macroscopic ones. We show the origin of these maps by embedding the bosonized version of the original quantum wires model in a gauge-invariant theory and using particle vortex duality.