Quantum Hall Droplet Research Articles

Adiabatic deformations of quantum Hall droplets

We consider area-preserving deformations of the plane, acting on electronic wave functions through “quantomorphisms” that change both the underlying metric and the confining potential. We show that adiabatic sequences of such transformations produce Berry phases that can be written in closed form in terms of the many-body current and density, even in the presence of interactions. For a large class of deformations that generalize squeezing and shearing, the leading piece of the phase is a super-extensive Aharonov-Bohm term (\propto N^2∝N2 for NN electrons) in the thermodynamic limit. Its gauge-invariant subleading partner only measures the current, whose dominant contribution to the phase stems from a jump at the edge in the limit of strong magnetic fields. This results in a finite Berry curvature per unit area, reminiscent of the Hall viscosity. We show that the latter is in fact included in our formalism, bypassing its standard derivation on a torus and suggesting realistic experimental setups for its observation in quantum simulators.

Linear and nonlinear edge dynamics of trapped fractional quantum Hall droplets

We report numerical studies of the linear and nonlinear edge dynamics of a non-harmonically-confined macroscopic fractional quantum Hall fluid. In the long-wavelength and weak excitation limit, observable consequences of the fractional transverse conductivity are recovered. The first nonuniversal corrections to the chiral Luttinger liquid theory are then characterized: for a weak excitation in the linear response regime, cubic corrections to the linear wave dispersion and a broadening of the dynamical structure factor of the edge excitations are identified; for stronger excitations, sizable nonlinear effects are found in the dynamics. The numerically observed features are quantitatively captured by a nonlinear chiral Luttinger liquid quantum Hamiltonian that reduces to a driven Korteweg--de Vries equation in the semiclassical limit. Experimental observability of our predictions is finally discussed.

Hall Droplet Sheets in Holographic QCD

In single-flavor QCD, the low energy description of baryons as Skyrmions is not available. In this case, it has been proposed by Komargodski that baryons can be viewed as kinds of charged quantum Hall droplets, or “sheets”. In this paper we propose a string theory description of the sheets in single-flavor holographic QCD, focusing on the Witten-Sakai-Sugimoto model. The sheets have a “hard” gluonic core, described by D6-branes, and a “soft” mesonic shell, dual to non-trivial D8-brane gauge field configurations. We first provide the description of an infinitely extended sheet with massless or moderately massive quarks. Then, we construct a semi-infinite sheet ending on a one-dimensional boundary, a “vortex string”. The holographic description allows for the precise calculation of sheet observables. In particular, we compute the tension and thickness of the sheet and the vortex string, and provide their four dimensional effective actions.

String-like theory of quantum Hall interfaces

We derive the effective theories for quantum Hall droplets with attractive interaction among the constituent particles. In the absence of confining potentials, such droplets are defined by their freely moving interfaces (or boundaries) with the vacuum. We demonstrate that the effective theories take forms like string theories. Generalization to interfaces between different quantum Hall liquids is discussed.

Mapping Topology of Skyrmions and Fractional Quantum Hall Droplets to Nuclear EFT for Ultra-Dense Baryonic Matter

We describe the mapping at high density of topological structure of baryonic matter to a nuclear effective field theory that implements hidden symmetries emergent from strong nuclear correlations. The theory constructed is found to be consistent with no conflicts with the presently available observations in both normal nuclear matter and compact-star matter. The hidden symmetries involved are “local flavor symmetry” of the vector mesons identified to be (Seiberg-)dual to the gluons of QCD and hidden “quantum scale symmetry” with an IR fixed point with a “genuine dilaton (GD)” characterized by non-vanishing pion and dilaton decay constants. Both the skyrmion topology for Nf≥2 baryons and the fractional quantum Hall (FQH) droplet topology for Nf=1 baryons are unified in the “homogeneous/hidden” Wess–Zumino term in the hidden local symmetry (HLS) Lagrangian. The possible indispensable role of the FQH droplets in going beyond the density regime of compact stars approaching scale-chiral restoration is explored by moving toward the limit where both the dilaton and the pion go massless.

Analytic exposition of the graviton modes in fractional quantum Hall effects and its physical implications

Neutral excitations in a fractional quantum Hall droplet define the incompressibility gap of the topological phase. In this work, we derived a set of analytical results for the energy gap of the graviton modes with two-body and three-body Hamiltonians in both the long-wavelength and thermodynamic limit. These allow us to construct model Hamiltonians for the graviton modes in different FQH phases, and to elucidate a hierarchical structure of conformal Hilbert spaces (nullspaces of model Hamiltonians) with respect to the graviton modes and their corresponding ground states. Using the analytical tools developed, we perform numerical analysis with a particular focus on the Laughlin $\nu = 1/5$ and the Gaffnian $\nu = 2/5$ phases. Our calculation shows that for gapped phases, low-lying neutral excitations can undergo a "phase transition" even when the ground state is invariant. We discuss the compressibility of the Gaffnian phase, the possibility of multiple graviton modes, and the transition from the graviton modes to the "hollow-core" modes, as well as their experimental consequences.

Dichotomy of Baryons as Quantum Hall Droplets and Skyrmions: Topological Structure of Dense Matter

We review a new development on the possible direct connection between the topological structure of the Nf=1 baryon as a FQH droplet and that of the Nf≥2 baryons (such as nucleons and hyperons) as skyrmions. This development suggests a possible “domain-wall (DW)” structure of compressed baryonic matter at high density expected to be found in the core of massive compact stars. Our theoretical framework is anchored on an effective nuclear effective field theory that incorporates two symmetries either hidden in the vacuum in QCD or emergent from strong nuclear correlations. It presents a basically different, hitherto undiscovered structure of nuclear matter at low as well as high densities. Hidden “genuine dilaton (GD)” symmetry and hidden local symmetry (HLS) gauge-equivalent at low density to nonlinear sigma model capturing chiral symmetry, put together in nuclear effective field theory, are seen to play an increasingly important role in providing hadron–quark duality in baryonic matter. It is argued that the FQH droplets could actually figure essentially in the properties of the vector mesons endowed with HLS near chiral restoration. This strongly motivates incorporating both symmetries in formulating “first-principles” approaches to nuclear dynamics encompassing from the nuclear matter density to the highest density stable in the Universe.

Ergodic edge modes in the 4D quantum Hall effect

The gapless modes on the edge of four-dimensional (4D) quantum Hall droplets are known to be anisotropic: they only propagate in one direction, foliating the 3D boundary into independent 1D conduction channels. This foliation is extremely sensitive to the confining potential and generically yields chaotic flows. Here we study the quantum correlations and entanglement of such edge modes in 4D droplets confined by harmonic traps, whose boundary is a squashed three-sphere. Commensurable trapping frequencies lead to periodic trajectories of electronic guiding centers; the corresponding edge modes propagate independently along S^1S1 fibers, forming a bundle of 1D conformal field theories over a 2D base space. By contrast, incommensurable frequencies produce quasi-periodic, ergodic trajectories, each of which covers its invariant torus densely; the corresponding correlation function of edge modes has fractal features. This wealth of behaviors highlights the sharp differences between 4D Hall droplets and their 2D peers; it also exhibits the dependence of 4D edge modes on the choice of trap, suggesting the existence of observable bifurcations due to droplet deformations.

Exact Modular $S$ Matrix for ${\mathbb Z}_{k}$ Parafermion Quantum Hall Islands and Measurement of Non-Abelian Anyons

Using the decomposition of rational conformal filed theory characters for the $\Z_k$ parafermion quantum Hall droplets for general $k=2,3,\dots$, we derive analytically the full modular $S$ matrix for these states, including the $\uu$ parts corresponding to the charged sector of the full conformal field theory and the neutral parafermion contributions corresponding to the diagonal affine coset models. This precise neutral-part parafermion $S$ matrix is derived from the explicit relations between the coset matrix and those for the numerator and denominator of the coset and the latter is expressed in compact form due to the level-rank duality between the affine Lie algebras $\widehat{\frak{su}(k)_2}$ and $\widehat{\frak{su}(2)_k}$. The exact results obtained for the $S$ matrix elements are expected to play an important role for identifying interference patterns of fractional quantum Hall states in Fabry-P\'erot interferometers which can be used to distinguish between Abelian and non-Abelian statistics of quasiparticles localized in the bulk of fractional quantum Hall droplets as well as for nondestructive interference measurement of Fibonacci anyons which can be used for universal topological quantum computation

Principal component analysis of the geometry in anisotropic quantum Hall states

In the presence of mass anisotropy, anisotropic interaction, or in-plane magnetic field, quantum Hall droplets can exhibit shape deformation and an internal geometrical degree of freedom. We characterize the geometry of quantum Hall states by principal component analysis, which is a statistical technique that emphasizes variation in a data set. We first test the method in an integer quantum Hall droplet with dipole-dipole interaction in disk geometry. In the subsequent application to fractional quantum Hall systems with anisotropic Coulomb interaction in torus geometry, we demonstrate that the principal component analysis can quantify the metric degree of freedom and predict the collapse of a $\ensuremath{\nu}=1/3$ state. We also calculate the metric response to interaction anisotropy at filling fractions $\ensuremath{\nu}=1/5$ and $2/5$ and show that the response is roughly the same within the same Jain sequence but can differ at large anisotropy for different sequences.

Skyrmions, Quantum Hall Droplets, and one current to rule them all

We introduce a novel Skyrme-like conserved current in the effective theory of pions and vector mesons based on the idea of hidden local symmetry. The associated charge is equivalent to the skyrmion charge for any smooth configuration. In addition, there exist singular configurations that can be identified as N_f=1Nf=1 baryons charged under the new symmetry. Under this identification, the vector mesons play the role of the Chern-Simons vector fields living on the quantum Hall droplet that forms the N_f=1Nf=1 baryon. We propose that this current is the correct effective expression for the baryon current at low energies. This proposal gives a unified picture for the two types of baryons and allows them to continuously transform one to the other in a natural way. In addition, Chern-Simons dualities on the droplet can be interpreted as a result of Seiberg-like duality between gluons and vector mesons.

Baryon as a Quantum Hall Droplet and the Quark-Hadron Duality.

We show that the recent proposal to describe the N_{f}=1 baryon in the large number of the color limit as a quantum Hall droplet can be understood as a chiral bag in a (1+2)-dimensional strip using the Cheshire Cat principle. For a small bag radius, the bag reduces to a vortex line which is the smile of the cat with flowing gapless quarks all spinning in the same direction. The disk enclosed by the smile is described by a topological field theory due to the Callan-Harvey anomaly outflow. The chiral bag naturally carries the unit baryon number and spin 1/2N_{c}. The generalization to arbitrary N_{f} is discussed.

Transmission Lines and Metamaterials Based on Quantum Hall Plasmonics

The characteristic impedance of a microwave transmission line is typically constrained to a value $Z_0$ = 50 $ \Omega$, in-part because of the low impedance of free space and the limited range of permittivity and permeability realizable with conventional materials. Here we suggest the possibility of constructing high-impedance transmission lines by exploiting the plasmonic response of edge states associated with the quantum Hall effect in gated devices. We analyze various implementations of quantum Hall transmission lines based on distributed networks and lumped-element circuits, including a detailed account of parasitic capacitance and Coulomb drag effects, which can modify device performance. We additionally conceive of a meta-material structure comprising arrays of quantum Hall droplets and analyze its unusual properties. The realization of such structures holds promise for efficiently wiring-up quantum circuits on chip, as well as engineering strong coupling between semiconductor qubits and microwave photons.

Optical control over bulk excitations in fractional quantum Hall systems

Local excitations in fractional quantum Hall systems are amongst the most intriguing objects in condensed matter, as they behave like particles of fractional charge and fractional statistics. In order to experimentally reveal these exotic properties and further to use such excitations for quantum computations, microscopic control over the excitations is necessary. Here we discuss different optical strategies to achieve such control. First, we propose that the application of a light field with non-zero orbital angular momentum can pump orbital angular momenta to electrons in a quantum Hall droplet. In analogy to Laughlin's argument, we show that this field can generate a quasihole or a quasielectron in such systems. Second, we consider an optical potential that can trap a quasihole, by repelling electrons from the region of the light beam. We simulate a moving optical field, which is able to control the position of the quasihole. This allows for imprinting the characteristic Berry phase which reflects the fractional charge of the quasihole.

Ring-shaped fractional quantum Hall liquids with hard-wall potentials

We study the physics of $\nu=1/2$ bosonic fractional quantum Hall droplets confined in a ring-shaped region delimited by two concentric cylindrically symmetric hard-wall potentials. Trial wave functions based on an extension of the Jack polynomial formalism including two different chiral edges are proposed and validated for a wide range of confinement potentials in terms of their excellent overlap with the eigenstates numerically found by exact diagonalization. In the presence of a single repulsive potential centered in the origin, a recursive structure in the many-body spectra and a massively degenerate ground state manifold are found. The addition of a second hard-wall potential confining the fractional quantum Hall droplet from the outside leads to a non-degenerate ground state containing a well defined number of quasiholes at the center and, for suitable potential parameters, to a clear organization of the excitations on the two edges. The utility of this ring-shaped configuration in view of theoretical and experimental studies of subtle aspects of fractional quantum Hall physics is outlined.

Numerical investigation of gapped edge states in fractional quantum Hall-superconductor heterostructures

Fractional quantum Hall-superconductor heterostructures may provide a platform towards non-abelian topological modes beyond Majoranas. However their quantitative theoretical study remains extremely challenging. We propose and implement a numerical setup for studying edge states of fractional quantum Hall droplets with a superconducting instability. The fully gapped edges carry a topological degree of freedom that can encode quantum information protected against local perturbations. We simulate such a system numerically using exact diagonalization by restricting the calculation to the quasihole-subspace of a (time-reversal symmetric) bilayer fractional quantum Hall system of Laughlin ν = 1/3 states. We show that the edge ground states are permuted by spin-dependent flux insertion and demonstrate their fractional 6π Josephson effect, evidencing their topological nature and the Cooper pairing of fractionalized quasiparticles. The versatility and efficiency of our setup make it a well suited method to tackle wider questions of edge phases and phase transitions in fractional quantum Hall systems.

Hard-wall confinement of a fractional quantum Hall liquid

We make use of numerical exact diagonalization calculations to explore the physics of $\nu = 1/2$ bosonic fractional quantum Hall (FQH) droplets in the presence of experimentally realistic cylindrically symmetric hard-wall potentials. This kind of confinement is found to produce very different many-body spectra compared to a harmonic trap or the so-called extremely steep limit. For a relatively weak confinement, the degeneracies are lifted and the low-lying excited states organize themselves in energy branches that can be explained in terms of their Jack polynomial representation. For a strong confinement, a strong spatial deformation of the droplet is found, with an unexpected depletion of its central density.

Long-range entanglement for spin qubits via quantum Hall edge modes

We propose and analyse a scheme for performing a long-range entangling gate for qubits encoded in electron spins trapped in semiconductor quantum dots. Our coupling makes use of an electrostatic interaction between the state-dependent charge configurations of a singlet-triplet qubit and the edge modes of a quantum Hall droplet. We show that distant singlet-triplet qubits can be selectively coupled, with gate times that can be much shorter than qubit dephasing times and faster than decoherence due to coupling to the edge modes. Based on parameters from recent experiments, we argue that fidelities above 99% could in principle be achieved for a two-qubit entangling gate taking as little as 20 ns.

Manipulation of a Nuclear Spin by a Magnetic Domain Wall in a Quantum Hall Ferromagnet

The manipulation of a nuclear spin by an electron spin requires the energy to flip the electron spin to be vanishingly small. This can be realized in a many electron system with degenerate ground states of opposite spin polarization in different Landau levels. We present here a microscopic theory of a domain wall between spin unpolarized and spin polarized quantum Hall ferromagnet states at filling factor two with the Zeeman energy comparable to the cyclotron energy. We determine the energies and many-body wave functions of the electronic quantum Hall droplet with up to N = 80 electrons as a function of the total spin, angular momentum, cyclotron and Zeeman energies from the spin singlet ν = 2 phase, through an intermediate polarization state exhibiting a domain wall to the fully spin-polarized phase involving the lowest and the second Landau levels. We demonstrate that the energy needed to flip one electron spin in a domain wall becomes comparable to the energy needed to flip the nuclear spin. The orthogonality of orbital electronic states is overcome by the many-electron character of the domain - the movement of the domain wall relative to the position of the nuclear spin enables the manipulation of the nuclear spin by electrical means.

Single- and many-particle description of scanning tunneling spectroscopy

Scanning tunneling spectroscopy measures how a single electron with definite energy propagates between a sample surface and the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope. In the simplest description, the differential conductance measured is interpreted as the local density of states of the sample at the tip position. This picture, however, is insufficient in some cases, since especially smaller molecules weakly coupled with the substrate tend to have strong Coulomb interactions when an electron is inserted or removed at the molecule. We present theoretical approaches to go from the non-interacting and single-particle picture to the correlated many-body regime. The methodology is used to understand recent experiments on finite armchair graphene nanoribbons and phthalocyanines. We also theoretically discuss the strongly-correlated model system of fractional quantum Hall droplets.