Quantum Hall Physics in String Theory

TL;DR

This paper explores how string theory backgrounds can model quantum Hall effects, providing explicit realizations of non-commutative gauge theories and matrix models, including new higher-dimensional analogs.

Contribution

It offers a review of string theory realizations of 2D fractional quantum Hall fluids and introduces new results on higher-dimensional generalizations.

Findings

String backgrounds realize fractional quantum Hall physics.

Explicit connection to non-commutative gauge theories.

New higher-dimensional quantum Hall analogs described.

Abstract

In certain backgrounds string theory exhibits quantum Hall-like behavior. These backgrounds provide an explicit realization of the effective non-commutative gauge theory description of the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE), and of the corresponding large N matrix model. I review results on the string theory realization of the two-dimensional fractional quantum Hall fluid (FQHF), and describe new results on the stringy description of higher-dimensional analogs.