Probing the geometry of the Laughlin state

Laughlin state. We perturb the system by a smooth, spatially dependent metric deformation and measure the response of the Hall fluid, finding it to be proportional to the Gaussian curvature of the metric. Further, we generalize the concept of coherent states to formulate the bulk off-diagonal long range order for the Laughlin state, and compute the deformations of the metric in the vicinity of the edge of the system. We introduce a 'pair amplitude' operator and show that it can be used to numerically determine the intrinsic metric of the Laughlin state. These various probes are applied to several experimentally relevant settings that can expose the quantum geometry of the Laughlin state, in particular to systems with mass anisotropy and in the presence of an electric field gradient.

DOI: 10.5445/ir/1000054533

Related papers

Sonika Johri, Zlatko Papić, Peter Schmitteckert +2 more

It has recently been pointed out that phases of matter with intrinsic topological order, like the fractional quantum Hall states, have an extra dynamical degree of freedom that corresponds to quantum geometry. Here we perform extensive numerical studies of the geometric degree of freedom for the simplest example of fractional quantum Hall states—the filling Laughlin state. We perturb the system by a smooth, spatially dependent metric deformation and measure the response of the Hall fluid, finding it to be proportional to the Gaussian curvature of the metric. Further, we generalize the concept of coherent states to formulate the bulk off-diagonal long range order for the Laughlin state, and compute the deformations of the metric in the vicinity of the edge of the system. We introduce a 'pair amplitude' operator and show that it can be used to numerically determine the intrinsic metric of the Laughlin state. These various probes are applied to several experimentally relevant settings that can expose the quantum geometry of the Laughlin state, in particular to systems with mass anisotropy and in the presence of an electric field gradient.It has recently been pointed out that phases of matter with intrinsic topological order, like the fractional quantum Hall states, have an extra dynamical degree of freedom that corresponds to quantum geometry. Here we perform extensive numerical studies of the geometric degree of freedom for the simplest example of fractional quantum Hall states—the filling Laughlin state. We perturb the system by a smooth, spatially dependent metric deformation and measure the response of the Hall fluid, finding it to be proportional to the Gaussian curvature of the metric. Further, we generalize the concept of coherent states to formulate the bulk off-diagonal long range order for the Laughlin state, and compute the deformations of the metric in the vicinity of the edge of the system. We introduce a 'pair amplitude' operator and show that it can be used to numerically determine the intrinsic metric of the Laughlin state. These various probes are applied to several experimentally relevant settings that can expose the quantum geometry of the Laughlin state, in particular to systems with mass anisotropy and in the presence of an electric field gradient.

arXiv:1512.08698New Journal of PhysicsFeb 5, 201639 citations

Quantum Hall States response to toroidal geometry deformation

Bruno Mera, José M. Mourão, João P. Nunes +1 more

In this paper, we apply techniques of geometric quantization to study the response of the integer and fractional quantum Hall effects to toroidal geometry deformation. The main method is that of using complex time Hamiltonian evolution to induce the geometry change and then the associated generalized coherent state transforms (gCST) to find the evolution of the Laughlin states. We consider two kinds of deformations. The first are flat toroidal deformations. Although Laughlin states for all flat toroidal geometries have been thoroughly studied before, we believe that our approach via the gCST is novel. It also serves as a testing ground to study the non-flat Kähler deformations. The Hamiltonians used in the flat deformations are quadratic in the generators of translations and therefore non periodic. The second kind of deformations involve nonflat Kähler toroidal deformations, generated by global, thus bi-periodic, Hamiltonians on the torus. The corresponding imaginary time flows are (elliptic curve modulus) $τ$ -preserving Mabuchi geodesics in the space of Kähler metrics on the torus, hitting a curvature singularity in finite imaginary time. By restricting to $S^1$ -invariant deformations we find explicit analytic expressions for the evolution of the toroidal geometry and of the Laughlin states all the way to the singularity.In this paper, we apply techniques of geometric quantization to study the response of the integer and fractional quantum Hall effects to toroidal geometry deformation. The main method is that of using complex time Hamiltonian evolution to induce the geometry change and then the associated generalized coherent state transforms (gCST) to find the evolution of the Laughlin states. We consider two kinds of deformations. The first are flat toroidal deformations. Although Laughlin states for all flat toroidal geometries have been thoroughly studied before, we believe that our approach via the gCST is novel. It also serves as a testing ground to study the non-flat Kähler deformations. The Hamiltonians used in the flat deformations are quadratic in the generators of translations and therefore non periodic. The second kind of deformations involve nonflat Kähler toroidal deformations, generated by global, thus bi-periodic, Hamiltonians on the torus. The corresponding imaginary time flows are (elliptic curve modulus) $τ$-preserving Mabuchi geodesics in the space of Kähler metrics on the torus, hitting a curvature singularity in finite imaginary time. By restricting to $S^1$-invariant deformations we find explicit analytic expressions for the evolution of the toroidal geometry and of the Laughlin states all the way to the singularity.

math-phCross-listedarXiv:2603.27319Mar 31, 2026

Geometry of flux attachment in anisotropic fractional quantum Hall states

Matteo Ippoliti, R. N. Bhatt, F. D. M. Haldane

Fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states are known to possess an internal metric degree of freedom that allows them to minimize their energy when contrasting geometries are present in the problem (e.g., electron band mass and dielectric tensor). We investigate the internal metric of several incompressible FQH states by probing their response to band mass anisotropy using infinite DMRG simulations on a cylinder geometry. We test and apply a method to extract the internal metric of an FQH state from its guiding center structure factor. We find that the response to band mass anisotropy is approximately the same for states in the same Jain sequence, but changes substantially between different sequences. We provide a theoretical explanation of the observed behavior of primary states at filling $\ensuremath{\nu}=1/m$ in terms of a minimal microscopic model of flux attachment.Fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states are known to possess an internal metric degree of freedom that allows them to minimize their energy when contrasting geometries are present in the problem (e.g., electron band mass and dielectric tensor). We investigate the internal metric of several incompressible FQH states by probing their response to band mass anisotropy using infinite DMRG simulations on a cylinder geometry. We test and apply a method to extract the internal metric of an FQH state from its guiding center structure factor. We find that the response to band mass anisotropy is approximately the same for states in the same Jain sequence, but changes substantially between different sequences. We provide a theoretical explanation of the observed behavior of primary states at filling $\ensuremath{\nu}=1/m$ in terms of a minimal microscopic model of flux attachment.

arXiv:1806.03303Physical review. B./Physical review. BAug 1, 201810 citations

Analytical Fock coefficients of the Laughlin state on the torus

Mikael Fremling

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 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.

Mar 27, 20150 citations

Realization of a fractional quantum Hall state with ultracold atoms

Julian Léonard, Sooshin Kim, Joyce Kwan +5 more

Strongly interacting topological matter exhibits fundamentally new phenomena with potential applications in quantum information technology. Emblematic instances are fractional quantum Hall states, where the interplay of magnetic fields and strong interactions gives rise to fractionally charged quasi-particles, long-ranged entanglement, and anyonic exchange statistics. Progress in engineering synthetic magnetic fields has raised the hope to create these exotic states in controlled quantum systems. However, except for a recent Laughlin state of light, preparing fractional quantum Hall states in engineered systems remains elusive. Here, we realize a fractional quantum Hall (FQH) state with ultracold atoms in an optical lattice. The state is a lattice version of a bosonic $ν=1/2$ Laughlin state with two particles on sixteen sites. This minimal system already captures many hallmark features of Laughlin-type FQH states: we observe a suppression of two-body interactions, we find a distinctive vortex structure in the density correlations, and we measure a fractional Hall conductivity of $σ_\text{H}/σ_0= 0.6(2)$ via the bulk response to a magnetic perturbation. Furthermore, by tuning the magnetic field we map out the transition point between the normal and the FQH regime through a spectroscopic probe of the many-body gap. Our work provides a starting point for exploring highly entangled topological matter with ultracold atoms.Strongly interacting topological matter exhibits fundamentally new phenomena with potential applications in quantum information technology. Emblematic instances are fractional quantum Hall states, where the interplay of magnetic fields and strong interactions gives rise to fractionally charged quasi-particles, long-ranged entanglement, and anyonic exchange statistics. Progress in engineering synthetic magnetic fields has raised the hope to create these exotic states in controlled quantum systems. However, except for a recent Laughlin state of light, preparing fractional quantum Hall states in engineered systems remains elusive. Here, we realize a fractional quantum Hall (FQH) state with ultracold atoms in an optical lattice. The state is a lattice version of a bosonic $ν=1/2$ Laughlin state with two particles on sixteen sites. This minimal system already captures many hallmark features of Laughlin-type FQH states: we observe a suppression of two-body interactions, we find a distinctive vortex structure in the density correlations, and we measure a fractional Hall conductivity of $σ_\text{H}/σ_0= 0.6(2)$ via the bulk response to a magnetic perturbation. Furthermore, by tuning the magnetic field we map out the transition point between the normal and the FQH regime through a spectroscopic probe of the many-body gap. Our work provides a starting point for exploring highly entangled topological matter with ultracold atoms.

arXiv:2210.10919Oct 19, 20225 citations

Hall viscosity of the Laughlin state on noisy quantum computers

Ammar Kirmani, Andrew A. Allocca, Jian-Xin Zhu +3 more

Hall viscosity is a quantized nondissipative stress response of a fractional quantum Hall (FQH) fluid to adiabatic geometric deformations. Despite strong theoretical interest, its experimental observation in the FQH state has remained elusive, making it a demanding target for realization on current IBM quantum hardware. In this letter, we employ a quasi-one-dimensional model of an FQH state coupled to a background metric to probe the geometric response under a metric quench. We design and implement a quantum-circuit protocol that realizes a Hilbert-space-truncated version of the model and extracts the Hall viscosity from the geometric response encoded in the wave-function dynamics on the IBM quantum hardware. While the truncation prevents us from accessing the fully quantized value of Hall viscosity, the hardware data closely track analytical and numerical predictions within this regime.Hall viscosity is a quantized nondissipative stress response of a fractional quantum Hall (FQH) fluid to adiabatic geometric deformations. Despite strong theoretical interest, its experimental observation in the FQH state has remained elusive, making it a demanding target for realization on current IBM quantum hardware. In this letter, we employ a quasi-one-dimensional model of an FQH state coupled to a background metric to probe the geometric response under a metric quench. We design and implement a quantum-circuit protocol that realizes a Hilbert-space-truncated version of the model and extracts the Hall viscosity from the geometric response encoded in the wave-function dynamics on the IBM quantum hardware. While the truncation prevents us from accessing the fully quantized value of Hall viscosity, the hardware data closely track analytical and numerical predictions within this regime.

cond-mat.str-elCross-listedarXiv:2512.09982Physical review. B./Physical review. BDec 12, 20250 citations

\nu =1/3

τ

-preserving Mabuchi geodesics in the space of Kähler metrics on the torus, hitting a curvature singularity in finite imaginary time. By restricting to

S^1

-invariant deformations we find explicit analytic expressions for the evolution of the toroidal geometry and of the Laughlin states all the way to the singularity.

ν=1/2

Laughlin state with two particles on sixteen sites. This minimal system already captures many hallmark features of Laughlin-type FQH states: we observe a suppression of two-body interactions, we find a distinctive vortex structure in the density correlations, and we measure a fractional Hall conductivity of

σ_\text{H}/σ_0= 0.6(2)

via the bulk response to a magnetic perturbation. Furthermore, by tuning the magnetic field we map out the transition point between the normal and the FQH regime through a spectroscopic probe of the many-body gap. Our work provides a starting point for exploring highly entangled topological matter with ultracold atoms.