Composite Fermion Theory of Exotic Fractional Quantum Hall Effect

Abstract

The fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) arises from strong correlations between electrons when they are confined to two dimensions and exposed to a strong magnetic field. The underlying physics is the formation of topological particles called composite fermions (CFs), electron-vortex bound states whose integer quantum Hall effect explains a large majority of the observed FQHE states. In recent years, the focus has shifted to the more exotic states that originate from a weak residual interaction between composite fermions. These include chiral p-wave paired states of composite fermions at certain even denominator fractions, unconventional FQHE of composite fermions, and a series of CF crystals at low fillings. Aside from these states, we also review the FQHE in multicomponent systems, which has attracted renewed attention because of the observation of well-developed FQHE in several multivalley systems, such as graphene and AlAs quantum wells.