Renormalization-group potential for quantum Hall effects

Abstract

The phenomenological analysis of fully spin-polarized quantum Hall systems, based on holomorphic modular symmetries of the renormalization group (RG) flow, is generalized to more complicated situations where the spin or other "flavors" of charge carriers are relevant, and where the symmetry is different. We make the simplest possible ansatz for a family of RG potentials that can interpolate between these symmetries. It is parametrized by a single number $a$ and we show that this suffices to account for almost all scaling data obtained to date. The potential is always symmetric under the main congruence group at level two, and when $a$ takes certain values this symmetry is enhanced to one of the maximal subgroups of the modular group. We compute the covariant RG $\beta$-function, which is a holomorphic vector field derived from the potential, and compare the geometry of this gradient flow with available temperature driven scaling data. The value of $a$ is determined from experiment by finding the location of a quantum critical point, i.e., an unstable zero of the $\beta$-function given by a saddle point of the RG potential. The data are consistent with $a \in \mathbb{R}$, which together with the symmetry leads to a generalized semi-circle law.