The Haldane-Rezayi quantum Hall state and conformal field 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 = -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 = -2 theory; this operator corresponds to a novel bulk excitation in the quantum Hall state. We argue that the edge theory is the c = 1 chiral Dirac fermion, which is related in a simple way to the c = -2 theory of the bulk. This theory is reformulated as a truncated version of a doublet of Dirac fermions in which the 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.
- Publication:
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Nuclear Physics B
- Pub Date:
- February 1997
- DOI:
- 10.1016/S0550-3213(97)00351-9
- arXiv:
- arXiv:cond-mat/9701212
- Bibcode:
- 1997NuPhB.498..513G
- Keywords:
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- Condensed Matter - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics;
- High Energy Physics - Theory
- E-Print:
- 37 pages, LaTeX. Some references added, minor changes at the end of section V