Published June 15, 2003 | Version v1
Journal article

Conformal field theory approach to bulk wave functions in the fractional quantum Hall effect

  • 1. Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Hannover, Appelstrasse 2, 30167 Hannover (Germany)

Description

We propose to describe bulk wave functions of fractional quantum Hall states in terms of correlators of nonunitary b/c-spin systems. These yield a promising conformal field-theory analogon of the composite fermion picture of Jain. Fractional statistics are described by twist fields which naturally appear in the b/c-spin systems. We provide a geometrical interpretation of our approach in which bulk wave functions are seen as holomorphic functions over a ramified covering of the complex plane, where the ramification precisely resembles the fractional statistics of the quasiparticle excitations in terms of branch points on the complex plane. To extend Jain's main series, we use the concept of composite fermions pairing to spin singlets, which enjoys a natural description in terms of the particular c=-2 b/c-spin system as known from the Haldane-Rezayi state. In this way we derive conformal field-theory proposals for lowest Landau-level bulk wave functions for more general filling fractions. We obtain a natural classification of the experimentally confirmed filling fractions, which does not contain prominent unobserved fillings. Furthermore, our scheme fits together with classifications in terms of K matrices of effective multilayer theories leading to striking restrictions of these coupling matrices

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics
Journal Volume
67
Journal Issue
23
Journal Page Range
p. 235316-235316.15
ISSN
1098-0121

Optional Information

Notes
(c) 2003 The American Physical Society