Slater Decomposition of Laughlin States

Abstract

The second-quantized form of the Laughlin states for the fractional quantum Hall effect is discussed by decomposing the Laughlin wavefunctions into the $N$-particle Slater basis. A general formula is given for the expansion coefficients in terms of the characters of the symmetric group, and the expansion coefficients are shown to possess numerous interesting symmetries. For expectation values of the density operator it is possible to identify individual dominant Slater states of the correct uniform bulk density and filling fraction in the physically relevant $N\to\infty$ limit.