NONCOMMUTATIVE FIELD THEORY AND THE DYNAMICS OF QUANTUM HALL FLUIDS

Abstract

We study the spectrum of density fluctuations of fractional Hall fluids in the context of the noncommutative hydrodynamical model of Susskind. We show that, within the weak-field expansion, the leading correction to the noncommutative Chern–Simons Lagrangian (a Maxwell term in the effective action), destroys the incompressibility of the Hall fluid due to strong UV/IR effects at one loop. We speculate on possible relations of this instability with the transition to the Wigner crystal, and conclude that calculations within the weak-field expansion must be carried out with an explicit ultraviolet cutoff at the noncommutativity scale. We point out that the noncommutative dipoles exactly match the spatial structure of the Halperin–Kallin quasiexcitons. Therefore, we propose that the noncommutative formalism must describe accurately the spectrum at very large momenta, provided no weak-field approximations are made. We further conjecture that the noncommutative open Wilson lines are "vertex operators" for the quasiexcitons.