Particle-Hole Symmetry Breaking and the 5/2 Fractional Quantum Hall Effect

We report on the study of the fractional quantum Hall effect at the filling factor 5/2 using exact diagonalization method with torus geometry. The particle-hole symmetry breaking effect is considered using an additional three-body interaction. Both Pfaffian and anti-Pfaffian states can be the ground state depending on the sign of the three-body interaction. The results of the low-energy spectrum, the wave function overlap, and the particle-hole parity evolution, have shown the clear evidence of a direct sharp transition (possibly first-order) from the Pfaffian to the anti-Pfaffian state at the Coulomb point. A quantum phase diagram is established, where one finds further transitions from the Pfaffian or anti-Pfaffian state to the nearby compressible phases induced by a change of the pseudopotential.