Fractional quantum Hall effect driven by multi-particle correlations in edge current

Abstract

The fractional quantum Hall effect has been considered as a puzzling quantum many-body phenomenon that has yet to be fully explained. The plateau width and excitation energy gap are particularly problematic. We report here that those two are determined by degrees of multi-particle correlations among the skipping electrons forming the edge current flowing in incompressible strips (ISs). Consideration of the total angular momentum of correlated skipping electrons and their images, which are introduced to eliminate the confining potential within the IS, yields additional Zeeman energies that hierarchically split the Landau levels (LLs) by correlation order. This level splitting produces all the odd-denominator plateaus and explains the occurrence of fractional charges, while the split distances representing the correlation strengths determine both plateau widths and excitation energy gaps. With such a scheme, we explicitly reproduce an experimental Hall resistivity curve for the lowest LL and reveal the characteristics of the half-filling state.