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Field Theory for Fractional Quantum Hall States

Tankut Can, Michael Laskin, Paul B. Wiegmann

Published Dec 30, 2014• 2 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

We develop a field theory description of fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states. We show that in the leading approximation in a gradient expansion, Laughlin states are described by a Gaussian free field theory with a background charge which is identified with the anomalous viscosity of the states. The background charge increases the central charge of the corresponding conformal field theory above 1, similar to that of the theory of 2D quantum gravity. Gradient corrections to the Gaussian field theory arising from ultraviolet regularization reflect the gravitational anomaly. They are also related to the Liouville theory of quantum gravity. We show how the gradient expansion of the field action encodes the universal features of the FQH effect beyond that of Hall conductance. This method provides a more transparent and useful alternative for computing the gravitational anomaly and correlation functions of the FQHE in a curved space than the method of iterating the Ward identity employed by the authors in previous papers.

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We develop a field theory description of fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states. We show that in the leading approximation in a gradient expansion, Laughlin states are described by a Gaussian free field theory with a background charge which is identified with the anomalous viscosity of the states. The background charge increases the central charge of the corresponding conformal field theory above 1, similar to that of the theory of 2D quantum gravity. Gradient corrections to the Gaussian field theory arising from ultraviolet regularization reflect the gravitational anomaly. They are also related to the Liouville theory of quantum gravity. We show how the gradient expansion of the field action encodes the universal features of the FQH effect beyond that of Hall conductance. This method provides a more transparent and useful alternative for computing the gravitational anomaly and correlation functions of the FQHE in a curved space than the method of iterating the Ward identity employed by the authors in previous papers.
We develop a collective field theory for fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states. We show that in the leading approximation for a large number of particles, the properties of Laughlin states are captured by a Gaussian free field theory with a background charge. Gradient corrections to the Gaussian field theory arise from the covariant ultraviolet regularization of the theory, which produces the gravitational anomaly. These corrections are described by a theory closely related to the Liouville theory of quantum gravity. The field theory simplifies the computation of correlation functions in FQH states and makes manifest the effect of quantum anomalies.
We examine the application of c=1c=1c=1 conformal field theory to the description of the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE). It is found that the Gaussian model together with an appropriate boundary condition for the order parameter furnishes an effective theory for the Laughlin type FQHE. The plateau formation condition corresponds to taking the {\em chiral} portion of the theory.
We derive an effective field theory for the isotropic-nematic quantum phase transition of fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states. We demonstrate that for a system with an isotropic background the low-energy effective theory of the nematic order parameter has z=2z=2z=2 dynamical scaling exponent, due to a Berry phase term of the order parameter, which is related to the non-dissipative Hall viscosity. Employing the composite fermion theory with a quadrupolar interaction between electrons, we show that a sufficiently attractive quadrupolar interaction triggers a phase transition from the isotropic FQH fluid into a nematic fractional quantum Hall phase. By investigating the spectrum of collective excitations, we demonstrate that the mass gap of Girvin-MacDonald-Platzman (GMP) mode collapses at the isotropic-nematic quantum phase transition. On the other hand, Laughlin quasiparticles and the Kohn collective mode remain gapped at this quantum phase transition, and Kohn's theorem is satisfied. The leading couplings between the nematic order parameter and the gauge fields include a term of the same form as Wen-Zee term. A disclination of the nematic order parameter carries an unquantized electric charge. We also discuss the relation between nematic degrees of freedom and the geometrical response of the fractional quantum Hall fluid.
We construct a low energy effective theory of anisotropic fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states. We develop a formalism similar to that used in the bimetric approach to massive gravity, and apply it to describe Abelian anisotropic FQH states in the presence of external electromagnetic and geometric backgrounds. We derive a relationship between the shift, the Hall viscosity, and a new quantized coupling to anisotropy, which we term anisospin. We verify this relationship by numerically computing the Hall viscosity for a variety of anisotropic quantum Hall states using the density matrix renormalization group. Finally, we apply these techniques to the problem of nematic order and clarify certain disagreements that exist in the literature about the meaning of the coefficient of the Berry phase term in the nematic effective action.
It has long been known that Laughlin's wave functions, describing the fractional quantum Hall effect at filling fractions ν=1/(2k+1), can be obtained as correlation functions in conformal field theory. We show how to generalize this approach to construct explicit trial wave functions for all states in the quantum Hall hierarchy corresponding to quasiparticle (as opposed to quasihole) condensates, including the recently observed state at ν= 4/11. At the filling fractions ν= n/(2np+1) this construction exactly reproduces Jain's composite fermion wave functions. An explicit connection is made to Wen's topological classification of FQH states.
Representative wave functions, which encode the topological properties of the spin polarized fractional quantum Hall states in the lowest Landau level, can be expressed in terms of correlation functions in conformal field theories. Until now, the constructions have been restricted to flat geometries, but in this paper we generalize to the simplest curved geometry, namely that of a sphere. Except for being of interest for numerical studies, that usually are performed on a sphere, the response of the fractional quantum Hall (FQH) liquids to curvature can be used to detect a topological quantity, the shift S\mathcal{S}S which is the average orbital spin of the constituent electrons. We give explicit expressions for representative wave functions on the sphere, for the full Abelian FQH hierarchy, and calculate the corresponding shifts. These microscopic results, based on wave functions, agree with the predictions from the effective Chern-Simons field theory. The methods we develop can also be applied to the planar case. It gives simpler expressions for states with both quasiparticle and quasihole condensates, and allows us to give closed form expressions for a general state in the hierarchy, rather than finding the wave function on a case by case basis.