Liquid crystalline states for two-dimensional electrons in strong magnetic fields

Based on the Kosterlitz-Thouless-Halperin-Nelson-Young (KTHNY) theory of two-dimensional melting and the analogy between Laughlin states and the two-dimensional one-component plasma (2DOCP), we investigate the possibility of liquid crystalline states in a single Landau level (LL). We introduce many-body trial wavefunctions that are translationally invariant but posess 2-fold (i.e. {\em nematic}), 4-fold ({\em tetratic}) or 6-fold ({\em hexatic}) broken rotational symmetry at respective filling factors $\nu = 1/3$, 1/5 and 1/7 of the valence LL. We find that the above liquid crystalline states exhibit a soft charge density wave (CDW) which underlies the translationally invariant state but which is destroyed by quantum fluctuations. By means of Monte Carlo (MC) simulations, we determine that, for a considerable variety of interaction potentials, the anisotropic states are energetically unfavorable for the lowest and first excited LL's (with index $L = 0, 1$), whereas the nematic is favorable at the second excited LL ($L = 2$).Comment: 7 figures, submitted to PRB, high-quality figures available upon reques

Collective excitations in quantum Hall liquid crystals: Single-mode approximation calculations

A variety of recent experiments probing the low-temperature transport properties of quantum Hall systems have suggested an interpretation in terms of liquid crystalline mesophases dubbed {\em quantum Hall liquid crystals}. The single mode approximation (SMA) has been a useful tool for the determination of the excitation spectra of various systems such as phonons in $^4$He and in the fractional quantum Hall effect. In this paper we calculate (via the SMA) the spectrum of collective excitations in a quantum Hall liquid crystal by considering {\em nematic}, {\em tetratic}, and {\em hexatic} generalizations of Laughlin's trial wave function having two-, four- and six-fold broken rotational symmetry, respectively. In the limit of zero wavevector \qq the dispersion of these modes is singular, with a gap that is dependent on the direction along which \qq=0 is approached for {\em nematic} and {\em tetratic} liquid crystalline states, but remains regular in the {\em hexatic} state, as permitted by the fourth order wavevector dependence of the (projected) oscillator strength and static structure factor.Comment: 6 pages, 5 eps figures include

Testing boundary conditions efficiency in simulations of long-range interacting magnetic models

Periodic boundary conditions have not a unique implementation in magnetic systems where all spins interact with each other through a power law decaying interaction of the form $1/r^\alpha$, $r$ being the distance between spins. In this work we present a comparative study of the finite size effects oberved in numerical simulations by using first image convention and full infinite of periodic boundary conditions in one and two-dimensional spin systems with those type of interactions, including the ferromagnetic, antiferromagnetic and competitive interactions cases. Our results show no significative differences between the finite size effects produced by both types of boundary conditions when the low temperature phase has zero global magnetization, while it depends on the ratio $\alpha/d$ for systems with a low temperature ferromagnetic phase. In the last case the first image convention gives much more stronger finite size effects than the other when the system enters into the classical regime $\alpha/d \leq 3/2$.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure