The alternative to the incompressible fractional charge in the quantum Hall effect: Comments on Laughlin and Schrieffer's papers

TL;DR

This paper challenges the traditional view that the Laughlin wave function uniquely describes fractional charge excitations in the quantum Hall effect, proposing an alternative interpretation that does not rely on fractional quasiparticles.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the exact wave function remains valid under charge and magnetic field modifications, questioning the necessity of fractional charge quasiparticles in the quantum Hall effect.

Findings

Wave function invariance under charge and magnetic field changes

Fractional charge is not a unique property of the wave function

Alternative explanations for quantum Hall excitations are possible

Abstract

Laughlin has found "exactly" the wave function which is ascribed to an excitation of fractional charge, such as e/3. We find that the exactness of the wave function is not destroyed by changing the charge to some other quantity such as the magnetic field. Thus e/3 and H can be replaced by e and H/3. Therefore, the wave function need not belong to quasiparticles of charge e/3.