Comment on ``Activation Gaps and Mass Enhancement of Composite Fermions''

TL;DR

This paper critiques a previous study on composite fermion gaps, showing that the finite width effects were overestimated, leading to inaccurate comparisons between theory and experiment.

Contribution

It identifies and corrects an overestimation in the finite width effect on energy gaps in composite fermion systems.

Findings

Finite width effects are overestimated by about a factor of two.

Corrected calculations show poorer agreement with experimental data.

Previous gap estimates need revision due to incorrect width parameter determination.

Abstract

In a recent Letter (Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 4200 (1998)) Park and Jain presented results of gap calculations for polarized states at \nu=1/3, 2/5, 3/7 and 4/9. They computed the effects on the gaps due the finite width of the interfacial wave function (wf). In this Comment, it is shown that the reduction of the gaps due to the finite width of the wf is overestimated by about a factor of two. The agreement between theoretical and experimental gap values cannot be taken seriously, but results from an incorrect determination of the width parameter.