Fractional Quantum Hall Effect in Hofstadter Butterflies of Dirac Fermions

TL;DR

This paper investigates how a periodic potential affects fractional quantum Hall states in monolayer graphene, revealing flux-dependent changes in ground states and energy gaps driven by electron interactions and Hofstadter patterns.

Contribution

It demonstrates the flux-dependent influence of periodic potentials on FQHE gaps and ground states in graphene, highlighting the roles of electron interactions and Hofstadter butterfly structures.

Findings

Periodic potential strength can close FQHE gaps at specific flux values.

Ground state changes occur at half flux quantum but not at one-third.

Gaps at half flux are due solely to electron-electron interactions.

Abstract

We report on the influence of a periodic potential on the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) states in monolayer graphene. We have shown that for two values of the magnetic flux per unit cell (one-half and one-third flux quantum) an increase of the periodic potential strength results in a closure of the FQHE gap and appearance of gaps due to the periodic potential. In the case of one-half flux quantum this causes a change of the ground state and consequently the change of the momentum of the system in the ground state. While there is also crossing between low-lying energy levels for one-third flux quantum the ground state does not change with the increase of the periodic potential strength and is always characterized by the same momentum. Finally, it is shown that for one-half flux quantum the emergent gaps are due entirely to the electron-electron interaction, whereas for the one-third flux quantum per unit cell these are due to both non-interacting electrons (Hofstadter butterfly pattern) and the electron-electron interaction.