Long-range order and the fractional quantum Hall effect.

Abstract

It is shown that the wave function proposed by Tao and Thouless to explain the fractional quantization of the Hall current implies long-range correlations between the electrons that are very different from the properties expected from Laughlin's wave function. Calculations for a small number of electrons have shown that Laughlin's wave function is an excellent approximation to the true ground state, so it must be concluded that the Tao-Thouless wave function is not a good approximation. There is some discussion of the question of broken symmetry.