Magnetic phenomena at and near nu =1/2 and 1/4: theory, experiment and interpretation

I show that the hamiltonian theory of Composite Fermions (CF) is capable of yielding a unified description in fair agreement with recent experiments on polarization P and relaxation rate 1/T_1 in quantum Hall states at filling nu = p/(2ps+1), at and near nu = 1/2 and 1/4, at zero and nonzero temperatures. I show how rotational invariance and two dimensionality can make the underlying interacting theory behave like a free one in a limited context.Comment: Latex 4 pages, 2 figure

Rotating fermions in two dimensions: Thomas Fermi approach

Properties of confined mesoscopic systems have been extensively studied numerically over recent years. We discuss an analytical approach to the study of finite rotating fermionic systems in two dimension. We first construct the energy functional for a finite fermionic system within the Thomas-Fermi approximation in two dimensions. We show that for specific interactions the problem may be exactly solved. We derive analytical expressions for the density, the critical size as well as the ground state energy of such systems in a given angular momentum sector.Comment: Latex 15 pages, 3 ps. figures. Poster in SCES-Y2K, held at SAHA Institute of Nuclear Physics,Calcutta,October (2000

Finite Temperature Magnetism in Fractional Quantum Hall Systems: Composite Fermion Hartree-Fock and Beyond

Using the Hamiltonian formulation of Composite Fermions developed recently, the temperature dependence of the spin polarization is computed for the translationally invariant fractional quantum Hall states at $\nu=1/3$ and $\nu=2/5$ in two steps. In the first step, the effect of particle-hole excitations on the spin polarization is computed in a Composite Fermion Hartree-Fock approximation. The computed magnetization for $\nu=1/3$ lies above the experimental results for intermediate temperatures indicating the importance of long wavelength spin fluctuations which are not correctly treated in Hartree-Fock. In the second step, spin fluctuations beyond Hartree-Fock are included for $\nu=1/3$ by mapping the problem on to the coarse-grained continuum quantum ferromagnet. The parameters of the effective continuum quantum ferromagnet description are extracted from the preceding Hartree-Fock analysis. After the inclusion of spin fluctuations in a large-N approach, the results for the finite-temperature spin polarization are in quite good agreement with the experiments.Comment: 10 pages, 8 eps figures. Two references adde

Scaling Relations for Gaps in Fractional Quantum Hall States

The microscopic approach of Murthy and Shankar, which has recently been used to calculate the transport gaps of quantum Hall states with fractions p/(2ps+1), also implies scaling relations between gaps within a single sequence (fixed s) as well as between gaps of corresponding states in different sequences. This work tests these relations for a system of electrons in the lowest Landau level interacting with a model potential cutoff at high momenta due to sample thickness

Hamiltonian Theory of the Composite Fermion Wigner Crystal

Experimental results indicating the existence of the high magnetic field Wigner Crystal have been available for a number of years. While variational wavefunctions have demonstrated the instability of the Laughlin liquid to a Wigner Crystal at sufficiently small filling, calculations of the excitation gaps have been hampered by the strong correlations. Recently a new Hamiltonian formulation of the fractional quantum Hall problem has been developed. In this work we extend the Hamiltonian approach to include states of nonuniform density, and use it to compute the excitation gaps of the Wigner Crystal states. We find that the Wigner Crystal states near $\nu=1/5$ are quantitatively well described as crystals of Composite Fermions with four vortices attached. Predictions for gaps and the shear modulus of the crystal are presented, and found to be in reasonable agreement with experiments.Comment: 41 page, 6 figures, 3 table

Hamiltonian theory of gaps, masses and polarization in quantum Hall states: full disclosure

I furnish details of the hamiltonian theory of the FQHE developed with Murthy for the infrared, which I subsequently extended to all distances and apply it to Jain fractions \nu = p/(2ps + 1). The explicit operator description in terms of the CF allows one to answer quantitative and qualitative issues, some of which cannot even be posed otherwise. I compute activation gaps for several potentials, exhibit their particle hole symmetry, the profiles of charge density in states with a quasiparticles or hole, (all in closed form) and compare to results from trial wavefunctions and exact diagonalization. The Hartree-Fock approximation is used since much of the nonperturbative physics is built in at tree level. I compare the gaps to experiment and comment on the rough equality of normalized masses near half and quarter filling. I compute the critical fields at which the Hall system will jump from one quantized value of polarization to another, and the polarization and relaxation rates for half filling as a function of temperature and propose a Korringa like law. After providing some plausibility arguments, I explore the possibility of describing several magnetic phenomena in dirty systems with an effective potential, by extracting a free parameter describing the potential from one data point and then using it to predict all the others from that sample. This works to the accuracy typical of this theory (10 -20 percent). I explain why the CF behaves like free particle in some magnetic experiments when it is not, what exactly the CF is made of, what one means by its dipole moment, and how the comparison of theory to experiment must be modified to fit the peculiarities of the quantized Hall problem

Hamiltonian Description of Composite Fermions: Aftermath

The Lowest Landau Level (LLL), long distance theory of Composite Fermions (CF) developed by Murthy and myself is minimally extended to all distances, guided by very general principles. The resulting theory is mathematically consistent, and physically appealing: we clearly see the electron and the vortices binding to form the CF. The meaning of the constraints, their role in ensuring compressibility of dipolar objects at $\nu =1/2$, and the observability of dipoles are clarified.Comment: Revised for publication in PRL, 4 - epsilon page

Interactions and Disorder in Quantum Dots: Instabilities and Phase Transitions

Using a fermionic renormalization group approach we analyse a model where the electrons diffusing on a quantum dot interact via Fermi-liquid interactions. Describing the single-particle states by Random Matrix Theory, we find that interactions can induce phase transitions (or crossovers for finite systems) to regimes where fluctuations and collective effects dominate at low energies. Implications for experiments and numerical work on quantum dots are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure; version to appear in Phys Rev Letter