Structures for Interacting Composite Fermions: Stripes, Bubbles, and Fractional Quantum Hall Effect

TL;DR

This paper models residual interactions between composite fermions in the fractional quantum Hall effect, proposing possible ground states such as stripes, bubbles, and fractional quantum Hall states based on a variational approach.

Contribution

It introduces a new model for residual interactions between composite fermions and explores the resulting possible ground states.

Findings

Formation of composite-fermion stripes and bubble crystals.

Identification of conditions for fractional quantum Hall states.

Residual interactions influence ground state structures.

Abstract

Much of the present day qualitative phenomenology of the fractional quantum Hall effect can be understood by neglecting the interactions between composite fermions altogether. For example the fractional quantum Hall effect at $\nu=n/(2pn\pm 1)$ corresponds to filled composite-fermion Landau levels,and the compressible state at $\nu=1/2p$ to the Fermi sea of composite fermions. Away from these filling factors, the residual interactions between composite fermions will determine the nature of the ground state. In this article, a model is constructed for the residual interaction between composite fermions, and various possible states are considered in a variational approach. Our study suggests formation of composite-fermion stripes, bubble crystals, as well as fractional quantum Hall states for appropriate situations.