English

The Haldane-Rezayi Quantum Hall State and Conformal Field Theory

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2009-10-30 v2 High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

We propose field theories for the bulk and edge of a quantum Hall state in the universality class of the Haldane-Rezayi wavefunction. The bulk theory is associated with the c=2c=-2 conformal field theory. The topological properties of the state, such as the quasiparticle braiding statistics and ground state degeneracy on a torus, may be deduced from this conformal field theory. The 10-fold degeneracy on a torus is explained by the existence of a logarithmic operator in the c=2c=-2 theory; this operator corresponds to a novel bulk excitation in the quantum Hall state. We argue that the edge theory is the c=1c=1 chiral Dirac fermion, which is related in a simple way to the c=2c=-2 theory of the bulk. This theory is reformulated as a truncated version of a doublet of Dirac fermions in which the SU(2)SU(2) symmetry -- which corresponds to the spin-rotational symmetry of the quantum Hall system -- is manifest and non-local. We make predictions for the current-voltage characteristics for transport through point contacts.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/9701212,
  title  = {The Haldane-Rezayi Quantum Hall State and Conformal Field Theory},
  author = {V. Gurarie and M. Flohr and C. Nayak},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/9701212},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

37 pages, LaTeX. Some references added, minor changes at the end of section V