Pair Description of the FQHE with Application to Edge Waves

Pairs of particles of definite total and relative angular momentum provide a natural description for a two dimensional electron gas in a strong magnetic field. Two body operators take a simple form when expressed in terms of pair creation and destruction operators. The pair formalism is applied to the study of edge waves excitations. For $\nu=1$ the operators which create edge excitations are identified and the role the interaction potential plays in the long wavelength limit is clarified. This picture is claimed to describe also edge excitations on the $\nu=1/m$ Laughlin states.