Periphery deformations and tunneling at correlated quantum-Hall edges

TL;DR

This paper proposes that at quantum Hall edges, tunneling electrons are accommodated by periphery-deformation excitations, explaining observed tunneling density of states behavior independent of the quantum Hall effect.

Contribution

It introduces the concept that edge excitations are generated by rigid deformations, providing a new understanding of tunneling phenomena at quantum Hall edges.

Findings

Tunneling electrons are accommodated by periphery-deformation excitations.

The tunneling density of states shows a power-law dependence on energy.

The behavior is independent of the presence of the quantum Hall effect.

Abstract

We argue that, at any filling factor, correlated quantum-Hall systems possess a set of chiral boson excitations which are generated by electronically rigid deformations of the system's periphery. We submit that tunneling electrons can be accommodated, at low energies, in these systems only by periphery-deformation excitations. This property would explain the recent observation of a tunneling density of states at the edge which does not exhibit a strong dependence on the occurrence or absence of the quantum Hall effect and has a power-law dependence on energy with exponent (inverse filling factor)-1.