Possibility of p-wave pairing of composite fermions at $\nu=1/2$

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential for p-wave pairing of composite fermions at filling factor 1/2, suggesting a transition to a paired state influenced by interaction modifications.

Contribution

It demonstrates the near-instability of the composite Fermi sea to triplet pairing and proposes a mechanism for inducing a paired state via interaction tuning.

Findings

Composite Fermi sea is close to triplet pairing instability.

Short-range interaction modifications can induce a transition to a Pfaffian paired state.

Transition may be triggered by increasing the electron layer thickness.

Abstract

We find that for the pure Coulomb repulsion the composite Fermi sea at $\nu=1/2$ is on the verge of an instability to triplet pairing of composite fermions. It is argued that a transition into the paired state, described by a Pfaffian wave function, may be induced if the short-range part of the interaction is softened by increasing the thickness of the two-dimensional electron system.