Quench Dynamics of Collective Modes in Fractional Quantum Hall Bilayers

Microscopic Model for Fractional Quantum Hall Nematics

Geometric fluctuations of the density mode in a fractional quantum Hall (FQH) state can give rise to a nematic FQH phase, a topological state with a spontaneously broken rotational symmetry. While experiments on FQH states in the second Landau level have reported signatures of putative FQH nematics in anisotropic transport, a realistic model for this state has been lacking. We show that the standard model of particles in the lowest Landau level interacting via the Coulomb potential realizes the FQH nematic transition, which is reached by a progressive reduction of the strength of the shortest-range Haldane pseudopotential. Using exact diagonalization and variational wave functions, we demonstrate that the FQH nematic transition occurs when the system's neutral gap closes in the long-wavelength limit while the charge gap remains open. We confirm the symmetry-breaking nature of the transition by demonstrating the existence of a "circular moat" potential in the manifold of states with broken rotational symmetry, while its geometric character is revealed through the strong fluctuations of the nematic susceptibility and Hall viscosity.

Geometric fluctuation of conformal Hilbert spaces and multiple graviton modes in fractional quantum Hall effect

Neutral excitations in fractional quantum Hall (FQH) fluids define the incompressibility of topological phases, a species of which can show graviton-like behaviors and are thus called the graviton modes (GMs). Here, we develop the microscopic theory for multiple GMs in FQH fluids and show explicitly that they are associated with the geometric fluctuation of well-defined conformal Hilbert spaces (CHSs), which are hierarchical subspaces within a single Landau level, each with emergent conformal symmetry and continuously parameterized by a unimodular metric. This leads to several statements about the number and the merging/splitting of GMs, which are verified numerically with both model and realistic interactions. We also discuss how the microscopic theory can serve as the basis for the additional Haldane modes in the effective field theory description and their experimental relevance to realistic electron-electron interactions.

Multiple Magnetorotons and Spectral Sum Rules in Fractional Quantum Hall Systems

We study, numerically, the charge neutral excitations (magnetorotons) in fractional quantum Hall systems, concentrating on the two Jain states near quarter filling, ν=2/7 and ν=2/9, and the ν=1/4 Fermi-liquid state itself. In contrast to the ν=1/3 states and the Jain states near half filling, on each of the two Jain states ν=2/7 and ν=2/9 the graviton spectral densities show two, instead of one, magnetoroton peaks. The magnetorotons have spin 2 and have opposite chiralities in the ν=2/7 state and the same chirality in the ν=2/9 state. We also provide a numerical verification of a sum rule relating the guiding center spin s[over ¯] with the spectral densities of the stress tensor.

s-Wave Paired Electron and Hole Composite Fermion Trial State for Quantum Hall Bilayers with ν=1

We introduce a new variational wave function for a quantum Hall bilayer at total filling ν_{T}=1, which is based on s-wave BCS pairing between electron composite fermions in one layer and hole composite fermions in the other. In addition, we reexamine a trial wave function based on p-wave BCS pairing between electron composite fermions in both layers. We compute the overlap of the optimized trial functions with the ground state from exact diagonalization calculations of up to 14 electrons in a spherical geometry, and we find excellent agreement over the entire range of values of the ratio between the layer separation and the magnetic length. The s-wave trial wave function naturally allows for charge imbalance between the layers and provides important insights into how the physics at large interlayer separations crosses over to that at small separations in a fashion analogous to the BEC-BCS crossover.