Quasi-particles in Fractional Quantum Hall Effect Edge Theories

Abstract

We propose a quasi-particle formulation of effective edge theories for the fractional quantum Hall effect. For the edge of a Laughlin state with filling fraction \nu=1/m, our fundamental quasi-particles are edge electrons of charge -e and edge quasi-holes of charge +e/m. These quasi-particles satisfy exclusion statistics in the sense of Haldane. We exploit algebraic properties of edge electrons to derive a kinetic equation for charge transport between a \nu=1/m fractional quantum Hall edge and a normal metal. We also analyze alternative `Boltzmann' equations that are directly based on the exclusion statistics properties of edge quasi-particles. Generalizations to more general filling fractions (Jain series) are briefly discussed.