Emergence of Neutral Modes in Laughlin-like Fractional Quantum Hall Phases

Abstract

Chiral gapless boundary modes are characteristic of quantum Hall (QH) states. For hole-conjugate fractional QH phases counterpropagating edge modes (upstream and downstream) are expected. In the presence of electrostatic interactions and disorder these modes may renormalize into charge and upstream neutral modes. Orthodox models of Laughlin phases anticipate only a downstream charge mode. Here we show that in the latter case, in the presence of a smooth confining potential, edge reconstruction leads to the emergence of pairs of counterpropagating modes, which, by way of mode renormalization, may give rise to nontopological upstream neutral modes, possessing nontrivial statistics. This may explain the experimental observation of ubiquitous neutral modes, and the overwhelming suppression of anyonic interference in Mach-Zehnder interferometry platforms. We also point out other signatures of such edge reconstruction.

7 pages, 3 figures and Supplementary Material. v2 -- Updated References and Acknowledgment + Minor Revisions. v3 -- Published Version

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Cited by in corpus (11)

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• Half-integer conductance plateau at the $\nu =2/3$ fractional quantum Hall state in a quantum point contact
• Collective excitations in chiral Stoner magnets
• Multiple Mechanisms for Emerging Conductance Plateaus in Fractional Quantum Hall States
• Experimentally Motivated Order of Length Scales Affect Shot Noise
• Fractional quantum Hall interface induced by geometric singularity
• Sensing the binding and unbinding of anyons at impurities
• Can Majorana zero modes in quantum Hall edges survive edge reconstruction?
• Elevated Hall Responses as Indicators of Edge Reconstruction
• Edge Reconstruction in a Quantum Spin Hall Insulator