Composite Fermion Theory Research Articles

Dualities of Paired Quantum Hall Bilayer States at ν_{T}=1/2+1/2.

Density-balanced, widely separated quantum Hall bilayers at ν_{T}=1 can be described as two copies of composite Fermi liquids (CFLs). The two CFLs have interlayer weak-coupling Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer instabilities mediated by gauge fluctuations, the resulting pairing symmetry of which depends on the CFL hypothesis used. If both layers are described by the conventional Halperin-Lee-Read (HLR) theory-based composite electron liquid (CEL), the dominant pairing instability is in the p+ip channel; whereas if one layer is described by CEL and the other by a composite hole liquid (CHL, in the sense of anti-HLR), the dominant pairing instability occurs in the s-wave channel. Using the Dirac composite fermion (CF) picture, we show that these two pairing channels can be mapped onto each other by particle-hole (PH) transformation. Furthermore, we derive the CHL theory as the nonrelativistic limit of the PH-transformed massive Dirac CF theory. Finally, we prove that an effective topological field theory for the paired CEL-CHL in the weak-coupling limit is equivalent to the exciton condensate phase in the strong-coupling limit.

Fingerprints of composite fermion Lambda levels in scanning tunneling microscopy

A composite fermion (CF) is a topological quasiparticle that emerges from a nonperturbative attachment of vortices to electrons in strongly correlated two-dimensional materials. Similar to noninteracting fermions that form Landau levels in a magnetic field, CFs can fill analogous “Lambda” levels, giving rise to the fractional quantum Hall (FQH) effect of electrons. Here, we show that Lambda levels can be directly visualized through the characteristic peak structure in the signal obtained via spectroscopy with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) on a FQH state. Complementary to transport, which probes the low-energy properties of CFs, we show that features in STM spectra can be interpreted in terms of Lambda levels. We numerically demonstrate that STM spectra can be accurately modeled using Jain's CF theory. Our results show that STM provides a powerful tool for revealing the anatomy of FQH states and identifying physics beyond the noninteracting CF paradigm. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Quantum mechanics of composite fermions

We establish the quantum mechanics of composite fermions based on the dipole picture initially proposed by Read. It comprises three complimentary components: a wave equation for determining the wave functions of a composite fermion in ideal fractional quantum Hall states and when subjected to external perturbations, a wave-function for mapping a many-body wave function of composite fermions to a physical wave function of electrons, and a microscopic approach for determining the effective Hamiltonian of the composite fermion. The wave equation resembles the ordinary Schrödinger equation but has drift velocity corrections that are not present in the Halperin-Lee-Read theory. The wave-function constructs a physical wave function of electrons by projecting a state of composite fermions onto a half-filled bosonic Laughlin state of vortices. Remarkably, Jain's wave-function can be reinterpreted as the new in an alternative wave-function representation of composite fermions. The dipole picture and the effective Hamiltonian can be derived from the microscopic model of interacting electrons confined in a Landau level, with all parameters determined. In this framework, we can construct the physical wave function of a fractional quantum Hall state deductively by solving the wave equation and applying the wave-function , based on the effective Hamiltonian derived from first principles, rather than relying on intuition or educated guesses. For ideal fractional quantum Hall states in the lowest Landau level, the approach reproduces the well-established results of the standard theory of composite fermions. We further demonstrate that the reformulated theory of composite fermions can be easily generalized for flat Chern bands. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Evidence for Topological Protection Derived from Six-Flux Composite Fermions

The composite fermion theory opened a new chapter in understanding many-body correlations through the formation of emergent particles. The formation of two-flux and four-flux composite fermions is well established. While there are limited data linked to the formation of six-flux composite fermions, topological protection associated with them is conspicuously lacking. Here we report evidence for the formation of a quantized and gapped fractional quantum Hall state at the filling factor ν = 9/11, which we associate with the formation of six-flux composite fermions. Our result provides evidence for the most intricate composite fermion with six fluxes and expands the already diverse family of highly correlated topological phases with a new member that cannot be characterized by correlations present in other known members. Our observations pave the way towards the study of higher order correlations in the fractional quantum Hall regime.

Two-fluid theory of composite bosons and fermions and the quantum Hall proximity effect

Two-fluid theory of composite bosons and fermions and the quantum Hall proximity effect

Delocalization and Universality of the Fractional Quantum Hall Plateau-to-Plateau Transitions.

Disorder and electron-electron interaction play essential roles in the physics of electron systems in condensed matter. In two-dimensional, quantum Hall systems, extensive studies of disorder-induced localization have led to the emergence of a scaling picture with a single extended state, characterized by a power-law divergence of the localization length in the zero-temperature limit. Experimentally, scaling has been investigated via measuring the temperature dependence of plateau-to-plateau transitions between the integer quantum Hall states (IQHSs), yielding a critical exponent κ≃0.42. Here we report scaling measurements in the fractional quantum Hall state (FQHS) regime where interaction plays a dominant role. Our Letter is partly motivated by recent calculations, based on the composite fermion theory, that suggest identical critical exponents in both IQHS and FQHS cases to the extent that the interaction between composite fermions is negligible. The samples used in our experiments are two-dimensional electron systems confined to GaAs quantum wells of exceptionally high quality. We find that κ varies for transitions between different FQHSs observed on the flanks of Landau level filling factor ν=1/2 and has a value close to that reported for the IQHS transitions only for a limited number of transitions between high-order FQHSs with intermediate strength. We discuss possible origins of the nonuniversal κ observed in our experiments.

Composite fermion theory: A microscopic derivation without Landau level projection

The composite fermion (CF) theory gives both a phenomenological description for many fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states, as well as a microscopic construction for large scale numerical calculation of these topological phases. The fundamental postulate of mapping FQH states of electrons to integer quantum Hall (IQH) states of CFs, however, was not formally established. The Landau level (LL) projection needed for the microscopic calculations is in some sense uncontrolled and unpredictable. We rigorously derive the unitary relationship between electrons and the CFs, showing the latter naturally emerge from special interactions within a single LL, without resorting to any projection by hand. In this framework, all FQH states topologically equivalent to those described by the conventional CF theory (e.g., the Jain series) have exact model Hamiltonians that can be explicitly derived, and we can easily generalize to FQH states from interacting CFs. Our derivations reveal fundamental connections between the CF theory and the pseudopotential/Jack polynomial constructions, and argue that all Abelian CF states are physically equivalent to the IQH states, while a plethora of non-Abelian CF states can be systematically constructed and classified. We also discuss about implications to experiments and effective field theory descriptions based on the descriptions with CFs as elementary particles.

Interaction effects on quantum Hall transitions: Dynamical scaling laws and superuniversality

We study the role of electron-electron interactions near integer and abelian fractional quantum Hall (QH) transitions using composite fermion (CF) representations. Interaction effects are encapsulated in CF theories as gauge fluctuations. Without gauge fluctuations, the CF system realizes a `dual' representation of the non-interacting QH transition. With gauge fluctuations, the system is governed by a gauged nonlinear sigma model (NLSM) with a $\theta-$term. While the transition is described by a strong-coupling fixed point of the NLSM, we are nevertheless able to deduce two of its properties. With $1/r$ interactions, 1) the transition has a dynamical exponent $z=1$, and 2) all transitions are `superuniversal': fractional and integer QH transitions are in the same universality class. With short-range interactions, $z=2$ and the fate of superuniversality remains unclear.

Adiabatic continuity of the spinful quantum Hall states

By using the extended Hubbard model of anyons, we numerically demonstrate the adiabatic deformation of the spinful quantum Hall (QH) states by transmutation of statistical fluxes. While the ground state is always spin-polarized in a series of $\nu=1$ integer QH system, the adiabatic continuity between the singlet QH states at $\nu=2$ and $\nu=2/5$ is confirmed. These results are consistent with the composite fermion theory with spin. The many-body Chern number of the ground state multiplet works as an adiabatic invariant and also explains the wild change of the topological degeneracy during the evolution. The generalized Streda formula of spinful systems is justified.

Neutral excitations of quantum Hall states: A density matrix renormalization group study

We use the dynamical structure factors of the quantum Hall states at $\ensuremath{\nu}=1/3$ and $1/2$ in the lowest Landau level to study their excitation spectrum. Using the density matrix renormalization group in combination with the time-dependent variational principle on an infinite cylinder geometry, we extract the low-energy properties. At $\ensuremath{\nu}=1/3$, a sharp magnetoroton mode and the two-roton continuum are present and the finite-size effects can be understood using the fractional charge of the quasiparticle. At $\ensuremath{\nu}=1/2$, we find low-energy modes with linear dispersion and the static structure factor $\overline{s}(q)\ensuremath{\sim}{(q\ensuremath{\ell})}^{3}$ in the limit $q\ensuremath{\ell}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$. The properties of these modes agree quantitatively with the predictions of the composite-fermion theory placed on the infinite cylinder.

Local density of states and particle entanglement in topological quantum fluids

The understanding of particle entanglement is an important goal in the studies of correlated quantum matter. The widely-used method of scanning tunneling spectroscopy -- which measures the local density of states (LDOS) of a many-body system by injecting or removing an electron from it -- is expected to be sensitive to particle entanglement. In this paper, we systematically investigate the relation between the particle entanglement spectrum (PES) and the LDOS of fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states, the paradigmatic strongly-correlated phases of electrons with topological order. Using exact diagonalization, we show that the counting of levels in both the LDOS and PES in the Jain sequence of FQH states can be predicted from the composite fermion theory. We point out the differences between LDOS and PES characterization of the bulk quasihole excitations, and we discuss the conditions under which the LDOS counting can be mapped to that of PES. Our results affirm that tunneling spectroscopy is a sensitive tool for identifying the nature of FQH states.

Lattice BF theory, dumbbells, and composite fermions

We formulate U(1)bda Chern-Simons theory, which is also called BF theory, on a lattice, adapting a method proposed by Kantor and Susskind [1] for the groups R and ZN. Our method applies to any finite or infinite abelian group. We study the discrete symmetries and use the model to provide a rigorous treatment of the composite fermion theory of the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) [2][3][4], with no ambiguities relating to intersecting Wilson/'t Hooft lines. We derive Jain's fractions, and one can also calculate corrections to the mean field solution within this framework. We also generalize the formalism to higher form gauge models in arbitrary dimension, and suggest a possible non-Abelian extension.

Quantitative theory of composite fermions in Bose-Fermi mixtures at ν=1

Composite fermions provide a simple and unified picture to understand a vast amount of phenomenology in the quantum Hall regime. However it has remained challenging to formulate this concept properly within a single Landau level. Recently a low-energy noncommutative field theory for bosons at Landau-level filling factor $\nu=1$ has been formulated by Dong and Senthil. In the limit of long-wavelength and small-amplitude gauge fluctuation, they found it reduces to the celebrated Halperin-Lee-Read theory of composite fermion liquid. In this work we consider a Bose-Fermi mixture at total filling factor $\nu=1$. Different from previous work, the number density of composite fermions in the mixture and corresponding Fermi momentum can be tuned by changing the filling factor of bosons, $\nu_b = 1 -\nu_f$. This tunability enables us to study the dilute limit $\nu_b\ll 1$, which allows for a controlled and asymptotically exact calculation of the energy dispersion and effective mass of composite fermions. Furthermore, the approximation of the low-energy description by a commutative field theory is manifestly justified. Most importantly, we demonstrate gauge fluctuations acquire a Higgs mass due to the presence of a composite boson condensate, as a result of which the system behaves like a genuine Landau Fermi liquid. Combined with the irrelevance of four-fermion interaction in the dilute limit, we are able to obtain asymptotically exact properties of this composite fermion Fermi liquid. In the opposite limit of $\nu_f\ll 1$, the Higgs mass goes to zero and we find crossover between Fermi liquid and non-Fermi liquid as temperature increases. Observing these properties either experimentally or numerically provides unambiguous evidence of not only the composite fermions and the Fermi surface they form, but also the presence of emergent gauge fields and their fluctuations due to strong correlation.

Particle-hole Pfaffian intracorrelations and intercorrelations in the quantum Hall bilayer

PH Pfaffian topological phase may exist in a uniform system due to strong Landau level (LL) mixing according to theoretical predictions based on the Son - Dirac composite fermion theory. Numerical investigations in the presence of large LL mixing are limited due to numerical complexities, when taking into account at least one more LL. Because of this, we apply the same field theoretical approach to the quantum Hall bilayer at total filling factor equal to one, for which many numerical studies exist. The most recent work in the torus geometry predicts an intermediate phase (for intermediate distances between layers) with an even-odd effect. According to our approach, the intermediate phase represents a mixed negative-flux $p$-wave pairing i.e. coexisting intra (PH Pfaffian in each layer) and inter (a la PH Pfaffian) pairing correlations. This again underlines a necessity for strong entanglement with additional degrees of freedom, i.e. at least one more (additional) LL in the search for a stable PH Pfaffian phase in a single layer. Based on the analogy with the bilayer physics we propose a PH Pfaffian wave function that resides in two LLs.

Microscopic derivation of Dirac composite fermion theory: Aspects of noncommutativity and pairing instabilities

Building on previous work [N. Read, Phys. Rev. B 58, 16262 (1998); Z. Dong and T. Senthil, Phys. Rev. B 102, 205126 (2020)] on the system of bosons at filling factor $\ensuremath{\nu}=1$, we derive the Dirac composite fermion theory for a half-filled Landau level from first principles and apply the Hartree-Fock approach in a preferred representation. On the basis of the microscopic formulation, in the long-wavelength limit, we propose a noncommutative field-theoretical description, which in a commutative limit reproduces the Son's theory, with additional terms that may be expected on physical grounds. The microscopic representation of the problem is also used to discuss pairing instabilities of composite fermions. We find that a presence of a particle-hole symmetry breaking leads to a weak (BCS) coupling $p$-wave pairing in the lowest Landau level, and strong coupling $p$-wave pairing in the second Landau level that occurs in a band with nearly flat dispersion, a third power function of momentum.

Composite fermion nonlinear sigma models

We study the integer quantum Hall plateau transition using composite fermion mean-field theory. We show that the topological $\theta = \pi$ term in the associated nonlinear sigma model [P. Kumar et al., Phys. Rev. B 100, 235124 (2019)] is stable against a certain particle-hole symmetry violating perturbation, parameterized by the composite fermion effective mass. This result, which applies to both the Halperin, Lee, and Read and Dirac composite fermion theories, represents an emergent particle-hole symmetry. For a disorder ensemble without particle-hole symmetry, we find that $\theta$ can vary continuously within the diffusive regime. Our results call for further study of the universality of the plateau transition.

Dirac composite fermion theory of general Jain sequences

We reconsider the composite fermion theory of general Jain's sequences with filling factor $\nu=N/(4N\pm1)$. We show that Goldman and Fradkin's proposal of a Dirac composite fermion leads to a violation of the Haldane bound on the coefficient of the static structure factor. To resolve this apparent contradiction, we add to the effective theory a gapped chiral mode (or modes) which already exists in the Fermi liquid state at $\nu=1/4$. We interpret the additional mode as an internal degree of freedom of the composite fermion, related to area-preserving deformations of the elementary droplet built up from electrons and correlation holes. In addition to providing a suitable static structure factor, our model also gives the expected Wen-Zee shift and a Hall conductivity that manifests Galilean invariance. We show that the charge density in the model satisfies the long-wavelength version of the Girvin-MacDonald-Platzman algebra.

Electromagnetic response of composite Dirac fermions in the half-filled Landau level

An effective field theory of composite Dirac fermions was proposed by Son [Phys. Rev. X 5, 031027 (2015)] as a theory of the half-filled Landau level with explicit particle-hole symmetry. We compute the electromagnetic response of this Son-Dirac theory on the level of the random phase approximation (RPA), where we pay particular attention to the effect of an additional composite-fermion dipole term that is needed to restore Galilean invariance. We find that once this dipole correction is taken into account, spurious interband transitions and collective modes that are present in the response of the unmodified theory either cancel or are strongly suppressed. We demonstrate that this gives rise to a consistent theory of the half-filled Landau level valid at all frequencies, at least to leading order in the momentum. In addition, the dipole contribution modifies the Fermi-liquid response at small frequency and momentum, which is a prediction of the Son-Dirac theory within the RPA that distinguishes it from a separate description of the half-filled Landau level by Halperin, Lee, and Read within the RPA.

Fractional Charge States in the Magneto-Photoluminescence Spectra of Single-Electron InP/GaInP2 Quantum Dots.

We used photoluminescence spectra of single electron quasi-two-dimensional InP/GaInP2 islands having Wigner-Seitz radius ~4 to measure the magnetic-field dispersion of the lowest s, p, and d single-particle states in the range 0–10 T. The measured dispersion revealed up to a nine-fold reduction of the cyclotron frequency, indicating the formation of nano-superconducting anyon or magneto-electron (em) states, in which the corresponding number of magnetic-flux-quanta vortexes and fractional charge were self-generated. We observed a linear increase in the number of vortexes versus the island size, which corresponded to a critical vortex radius equal to the Bohr radius and closed-packed topological vortex arrangements. Our observation explains the microscopic mechanism of vortex attachment in composite fermion theory of the fractional quantum Hall effect, allows its description in terms of self-localization of ems and represents progress towards the goal of engineering anyon properties for fault-tolerant topological quantum gates.

Elementary excitations in fractional quantum Hall effect from classical constraints

Classical constraints on the reduced density matrix of quantum fluids in a single Landau level termed as local exclusion conditions (LECs) (Yang 2019 Phys. Rev. B 100 241302), have recently been shown to characterize the ground state of many fractional quantum Hall (FQH) phases. In this work, we extend the LEC construction to build the elementary excitations, namely quasiholes and quasielectrons, of these FQH phases. In particular, we elucidate the quasihole counting, categorize various types of quasielectrons, and construct their microscopic wave functions. Our extensive numerical calculations indicate that the undressed quasielectron excitations of the Laughlin state obtained from LECs are topologically equivalent to those obtained from the composite fermion theory. Intriguingly, the LEC construction unveils interesting connections between different FQH phases and offers a novel perspective on exotic states such as the Gaffnian and the Fibonacci state.