Conformal Field Theory of Composite Fermions

T. H. Hansson, C. -C. Chang, J. K. Jain, S. Viefers

Published 2006-03-06, updated 2006-06-28Version 2

We show that the quantum Hall wave functions for the ground states in the Jain series can be exactly expressed in terms of correlation functions of local vertex operators, V_n, corresponding to composite fermions in the n:th composite-fermion (CF) Landau level. This allows for the powerful mathematics of conformal field theory to be applied to the successful CF phenomenology. Quasiparticle and quasihole states are expressed as correlators of anyonic operators with fractional (local) charge, allowing a simple algebraic understanding of their topological properties that are not manifest in the CF wave functions.