No Arabic abstract
We study quasiparticle tunneling between the edges of a non-Abelian topological state. The simplest examples are a p+ip superconductor and the Moore-Read Pfaffian non-Abelian fractional quantum Hall state; the latter state may have been observed at Landau-level filling fraction nu=5/2. Formulating the problem is conceptually and technically non-trivial: edge quasiparticle correlation functions are elements of a vector space, and transform into each other as the quasiparticle coordinates are braided. We show in general how to resolve this difficulty and uniquely define the quasiparticle tunneling Hamiltonian. The tunneling operators in the simplest examples can then be rewritten in terms of a free boson. One key consequence of this bosonization is an emergent spin-1/2 degree of freedom. We show that vortex tunneling across a p+ip superconductor is equivalent to the single-channel Kondo problem, while quasiparticle tunneling across the Moore-Read state is analogous to the two-channel Kondo effect. Temperature and voltage dependences of the tunneling conductivity are given in the low- and high-temperature limits.
We explain how (perturbed) boundary conformal field theory allows us to understand the tunneling of edge quasiparticles in non-Abelian topological states. The coupling between a bulk non-Abelian quasiparticle and the edge is due to resonant tunneling to a zero mode on the quasiparticle, which causes the zero mode to hybridize with the edge. This can be reformulated as the flow from one conformally-invariant boundary condition to another in an associated critical statistical mechanical model. Tunneling from one edge to another at a point contact can split the system in two, either partially or completely. This can be reformulated in the critical statistical mechanical model as the flow from one type of defect line to another. We illustrate these two phenomena in detail in the context of the nu=5/2 quantum Hall state and the critical Ising model. We briefly discuss the case of Fibonacci anyons and conclude by explaining the general formulation and its physical interpretation.
When a gas of electrons is confined to two dimensions, application of a strong magnetic field may lead to startling phenomena such as emergence of electron pairing. According to a theory this manifests itself as appearance of the fractional quantum Hall effect with a quantized conductivity at an unusual half-integer nu=5/2 Landau level filling. Here we show that similar electron pairing may occur in quantum dots where the gas of electrons is trapped by external electric potentials into small quantum Hall droplets. However, we also find theoretical and experimental evidence that, depending on the shape of the external potential, the paired electron state can break down, which leads to a fragmentation of charge and spin densities into incompressible domains. The fragmentation of the quantum Hall states could be an issue in the proposed experiments that aim to probe for non-abelian quasi-particle characteristics of the nu=5/2 quantum Hall state.
Recent schemes for experimentally probing non-abelian statistics in the quantum Hall effect are based on geometries where current-carrying quasiparticles flow along edges that encircle bulk quasiparticles, which are localized. Here we consider one such scheme, the Fabry-Perot interferometer, and analyze how its interference patterns are affected by a coupling that allows tunneling of neutral Majorana fermions between the bulk and edge. While at weak coupling this tunneling degrades the interference signal, we find that at strong coupling, the bulk quasiparticle becomes essentially absorbed by the edge and the intereference signal is fully restored.
We present a comprehensive numerical study of a microscopic model of the fractional quantum Hall system at filling fraction $ u = 5/2$, based on the disc geometry. Our model includes Coulomb interaction and a semi-realistic confining potential. We also mix in some three-body interaction in some cases to help elucidate the physics. We obtain a phase diagram, discuss the conditions under which the ground state can be described by the Moore-Read state, and study its competition with neighboring stripe phases. We also study quasihole excitations and edge excitations in the Moore-Read--like state. From the evolution of edge spectrum, we obtain the velocities of the charge and neutral edge modes, which turn out to be very different. This separation of velocities is a source of decoherence for a non-Abelian quasihole/quasiparticle (with charge $pm e/4$) when propagating at the edge; using numbers obtained from a specific set of parameters we estimate the decoherence length to be around four microns. This sets an upper bound for the separation of the two point contacts in a double point contact interferometer, designed to detect the non-Abelian nature of such quasiparticles. We also find a state that is a potential candidate for the recently proposed anti-Pfaffian state. We find the speculated anti-Pfaffian state is favored in weak confinement (smooth edge) while the Moore-Read Pfaffian state is favored in strong confinement (sharp edge).
We analyze charge-$e/4$ quasiparticle tunneling between the edges of a point contact in a non-Abelian model of the $ u=5/2$ quantum Hall state. We map this problem to resonant tunneling between attractive Luttinger liquids and use the time-dependent density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG) method to compute the current through the point contact in the presence of a {it finite voltage difference} between the two edges. We confirm that, as the voltage is decreases, the system is broken into two pieces coupled by electron hopping. In the limits of small and large voltage, we recover the results expected from perturbation theory about the infrared and ultraviolet fixed points. We test our methods by finding the analogous non-equilibrium current through a point contact in a $ u=1/3$ quantum Hall state, confirming the Bethe ansatz solution of the problem.