arXiv subjects

Ying-Hai Wu

Publications and source records attributed to Ying-Hai Wu.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Fractional Chern insulators in alternating twisted multilayer MoTe$_{2}$

We study strongly correlated many-body states in alternating twisted trilayer and tetralayer MoTe$_{2}$. By sliding the top layer with respect to others and applying a perpendicular electric field, a variety of band structures can be realized. In many cases, the topmost hole band has unity Chern number and its quantum geometric properties can be tuned to some extent. Exact diagonalizations suggest that fractional Chern insulators are stabilized in certain parameter regimes but not in some regimes even when the band is topological. This contrast is attributed primarily to different quantum geometries as quantified by the trace condition. Our results demonstrate that sliding can serve as a useful knob for probing many-body states in moiré systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Cascade of fractional quantum Hall states in 2D system

The observation of the fractional quantum Hall (FQH) effect in 2D electron gases ushered in investigations of topological phases driven by strong electron correlations. Their remarkable features include fractionalized elementary excitations, gapless boundary states, and non-trivial quantum entanglement patterns. Thanks to persistent efforts in the building of new platforms and making higher-quality samples, a diverse plethora of FQH states have been unveiled in experiments. We report a systematic study of ultrahigh-quality GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells with mobility up to 3.7*10^7 cm^2/V/s using quantum transport measurements in nuclear adiabatic demagnetization and dilution refrigerators down to 1 mK. In addition to many FQH states that have already been identified in previous work, new longitudinal resistance dips are observed at filling factors 17/33 and 15/31. The application of an in-plane magnetic field causes disparate variations of the FQH states. The theoretical foundation of these states is discussed in the framework of composite fermion theory. While most fractions can be explained as non-interacting composite fermions forming integer quantum Hall states, a few states correspond to FQH states of composite fermions that arise from residual interaction between them. We summarize the observed fractions in the range of 0 < ν < 2 and propose a pattern to account for their experimental appearance that provides an intuitive picture about the relative strengths of different FQH states.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2026

Crosscap states and duality of Ising field theory in two dimensions

We propose two distinct crosscap states for the two-dimensional (2D) Ising field theory. These two crosscap states, identifying Ising spins or dual spins (domain walls) at antipodal points, are shown to be related via the Kramers-Wannier duality transformation. We derive their Majorana free field representations and extend bosonization techniques to calculate correlation functions of the 2D Ising conformal field theory (CFT) with different crosscap boundaries. Away from criticality, we develop a conformal perturbation theory to calculate the Klein bottle entropy (norm-square of the crosscap overlap) as a universal scaling function [Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 151602 (2023)]. For the Ising field theory, our analytical results support the conjectured monotonicity of the Klein bottle entropy under relevant perturbations. The formalism provides a general framework for studying perturbed 2D CFTs on non-orientable manifolds.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

SO(n) Affleck-Kennedy-Lieb-Tasaki states as conformal boundary states of integrable SU(n) spin chains

We construct a class of conformal boundary states in the $\mathrm{SU}(n)_1$ Wess-Zumino-Witten (WZW) conformal field theory (CFT) using the symmetry embedding $\mathrm{Spin}(n)_2 \subset \mathrm{SU}(n)_1$. These boundary states are beyond the standard Cardy construction and possess $\mathrm{SO}(n)$ symmetry. The $\mathrm{SU}(n)$ Uimin-Lai-Sutherland (ULS) spin chains, which realize the $\mathrm{SU}(n)_1$ WZW model on the lattice, allow us to identify these boundary states as the ground states of the $\mathrm{SO}(n)$ Affleck-Kennedy-Lieb-Tasaki spin chains. Using the integrability of the $\mathrm{SU}(n)$ ULS model, we analytically compute the corresponding Affleck-Ludwig boundary entropy using exact overlap formulas. Our results unveil intriguing connections between exotic boundary states in CFT and integrable lattice models, thus providing deep insights into the interplay of symmetry, integrability, and boundary critical phenomena.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Non-Abelian fractional quantum Hall states at filling factor 3/4

Fractional quantum Hall states have been observed at filling factor $ν=3/4$ in GaAs hole system and bilayer graphene. In theoretical bootstrap analysis, it was revealed that non-Abelian topological orders with Ising anyons can be realized at $ν=3/4$, which exhibit $12$ fold ground state degeneracy on the torus. The properties of $ν=3/4$ states can be analyzed using two complementary approaches. In the first one, they are treated as particle-hole conjugate of $ν=1/4$ Moore-Read types states. In the second one, they are mapped to composite fermions with reverse flux attachment at effective filling factor $3/2$, whose integral part realizes an integer quantum Hall state and the fractional part realizes $ν=1/2$ Moore-Read type states. For bilayer graphene with appropriate Landau level mixing, numerical calculations found $12$ quasi-degenerate ground states on the torus at $ν=3/4$. Chiral graviton spectral functions of these states have one low energy peak with negative chirality and one high energy peak with positive chirality. This points to a specific member of the Moore-Read type states and agrees with the deduction based on daughter states.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Impurity screening by defects in (1+1)$d$ quantum critical systems

We propose a novel mechanism of impurity screening in (1+1)$d$ quantum critical states described by conformal field theories (CFTs). An impurity can be screened if it has the same quantum numbers as some gapless degrees of freedom of the CFT. The common source of these degrees of freedom is the chiral primary fields of the CFT, but we uncover that topological defect lines of the CFT may also take this role. Theoretical analysis relies on the insight that the impurities can be interpreted as edge modes of certain symmetry-protected topological (SPT) states. By stacking a SPT state with a CFT, one or two interfaces on which the SPT edge modes reside are created. If screening occurs due to topological defect lines, a symmetry-enriched CFT with exotic boundary states are obtained. The boundary conditions that appear in these cases are difficult to achieve using previously known methods. As a concrete example, we consider a spin-1 chain whose bulk is described by the SU(3)$_{1}$ CFT and edges are coupled to spin-1/2 impurities. We demonstrate that both the low-energy eigenstates and the extracted Affleck-Ludwig entropy are in excellent agreement with our theoretical predictions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Theory of Correlated Hofstadter Spectrum in Magic-Angle Graphene

The magnetic-field-induced correlated Chern insulator (CCI) states in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene (MATBG) have been intensively studied in experiments, but a simple and clear understanding of their origin is still lacking. Here, we propose a unified theoretical framework for the CCI states in MATBG that successfully explains most experimental observations. The key insight of our theory is that, due to the very narrow bandwidth of MATBG, correlation-enhanced valley and spin Zeeman terms are critical for shaping the intricate Hofstadter spectrum, resulting in an interwoven, flavor-resolved (spin and valley) Hofstadter spectrum that can well describe the observed CCI states. Crucially, due to the Zeeman effect, the crossings between these flavor-polarized Hofstadter spectra are magnetic-field-dependent, causing certain CCI states to emerge only above a critical field. This is the main mechanism underlying the critical field phenomenon of the CCI states observed in experiments. Our theory provides a clear and unified physical picture for the correlated Hofstadter spectrum in MATBG.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2026

Laughlin pumping assisted by surface acoustic waves

The quantum Hall effect is a fascinating electrical transport phenomenon signified by precise quantization of Hall conductivity $σ_\mathrm{xy}$ and vanishing longitudinal conductivity $σ_\mathrm{xx}$. Laughlin proposed an elegant explanation in which adiabatic insertion of a flux tube pumps charge through the system. This analysis unveils the fundamental role of gauge invariance and provides a compelling argument about the fractional charge of fractional quantum Hall states. While it has been used extensively as a theoretical tool, a quantitative experimental investigation is lacking despite multiple attempts. Here we report successful realizations of Laughlin pumping in several integer and fractional quantum Hall states. One essential technical innovation is using surface acoustic waves to periodically clear the charges accumulated during the pumping process. Magnetic fluxes are inserted at a constant rate so there is no need to perform complicated data fitting. Furthermore, our setting can reliably extract $σ_\mathrm{xx}$ that is several orders of magnitude lower than the limit of conventional techniques. Effective energy gaps can be deduced from the temperature dependence of $σ_\mathrm{xx}$, which are drastically different from those provided by conventional transport data. This work not only brings a famous gedanken experiment to reality but also serves as a portal for many future investigations.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Numerical extraction of crosscap coefficients in microscopic models for (2+1)D conformal field theory

Conformal field theory (CFT) can be placed on disparate space-time manifolds to facilitate investigations of their properties. For (2+1)-dimensional [(2+1)D] theories, one useful choice is the real projective space $\mathbb{RP}^3$ obtained by identifying antipodal points on the boundary sphere of a three-dimensional ball. One-point functions of scalar primary fields on this manifold generally do not vanish and encode the so-called crosscap coefficients. These coefficients also manifest on the sphere as the overlaps between certain crosscap states and CFT primary states. Taking the (2+1)D Ising CFT as a concrete example, we demonstrate that crosscap coefficients can be extracted from microscopic models. We construct crosscap states in both lattice models defined on polyhedrons and continuum models in Landau levels, where the degrees of freedom at antipodal points are entangled in Bell-type states. By computing their overlaps with the eigenstates of many-body Hamiltonians, we obtain results consistent with those from conformal bootstrap. Importantly, our approach directly reveals the absolute values of crosscap overlaps, whereas bootstrap calculations typically yield only their ratios. Furthermore, we investigate the finite-size scaling of these overlaps and their evolution under perturbations away from criticality.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Bridging conformal field theory and parton approaches to SU(n)_k chiral spin liquids

We employ the $\mathrm{SU}(n)_k$ Wess-Zumino-Witten (WZW) model in conformal field theory to construct lattice wave functions in both one and two dimensions. The spins on all lattice sites are chosen to transform under the $\mathrm{SU}(n)$ irreducible representation with a single row and $k$ boxes in the Young tableau. It is demonstrated that the wave functions can be reinterpreted as parton states, which enables efficient conversion to matrix product states such that many physical properties can be evaluated directly. In one dimension, these wave functions describe critical spin chains whose universality classes are in one-to-one correspondence with the WZW models used in the construction. In two dimensions, our constructions yield model wave functions for chiral spin liquids, and we show how to find all topological sectors of them in a systematic way. Using the null vectors of Kac-Moody algebras, parent Hamiltonians of the $\mathrm{SU}(3)_k$ series are derived. The $\mathrm{SU}(3)_k$ chiral spin liquids are lattice analogs of non-Abelian spin-singlet fractional quantum Hall states, and the $k=2$ member hosts Fibonacci anyons.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Third-order quantum phase transitions of bosonic non-Abelian fractional quantum Hall states

We study phase transitions in bilayer and trilayer bosonic quantum Hall systems. In the absence of interlayer tunneling and interaction, each layer is chosen to have filling factor $ν=1/2$ or $1$ to realize the Laughlin state or the Moore-Read state. By tuning interlayer tunneling and/or interaction, multiple phases can be generated. In the absence of interlayer interaction, three phase transitions appear when interlayer tunneling becomes sufficiently strong: (1) from two decoupled $ν=1/2$ Laughlin states to the Moore-Read state in bilayer systems; (2) from one $ν=1/2$ Laughlin state plus one $ν=1$ Moore-Read state to the Read-Rezayi $\mathbb{Z}_{3}$ state in bilayer systems; (3) from three decoupled $ν=1/2$ Laughlin states to the Read-Rezayi $\mathbb{Z}_{3}$ state in trilayer systems. Numerical calculations suggest that these transitions are third-order ones. We propose non-Abelian Chern-Simons-Higgs theory to describe them. If both interlayer tunneling and interaction are present, one-component or multi-component composite fermion liquids and Jain states can be realized. This leads to intricate phase diagrams that host multiple phase transitions and possibly exotic critical points.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Exciton condensation of composite fermions in double layer quantum Hall systems

We study fractional quantum Hall states in double layer systems that can be interpreted as exciton condensates of composite fermions. An electron in one layer is dressed by two fluxes from the same layer and two fluxes from the other layer to become composite fermions that form effective Landau levels. It is found that two types of composite fermion exciton condensates could occur. In the first type ones, all effective levels are partially occupied and excitonic correlations are present between composite fermions in the same effective level. In the second type ones, composite fermions in the topmost effective levels of the two layers form exciton condensate whereas those in lower effective levels are independent. The electric transport signatures of these states are analyzed. We demonstrate using numerical calculations that some composite fermion exciton condensates can be realized in microscopic models that are relevant for graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides. For a fixed total filling factor, an exciton condensate may only be realized when the electron densities in the two layers belong to a certain range. It is possible that two types of states appear at the same total filling factor in different ranges. These results shed light on recent experimental observations and also suggest some promising future directions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Efficient conversion from fermionic Gaussian states to matrix product states

Fermionic Gaussian states are eigenstates of quadratic Hamiltonians and are widely used in quantum many-body problems. We propose a highly efficient algorithm that converts fermionic Gaussian states to matrix product states. It can be formulated for finite-size systems without translation invariance, but becomes particularly appealing when applied to infinite systems with translation invariance. If the ground states of a topologically ordered system on infinite cylinders are expressed as matrix product states, then the fixed points of the transfer matrix can be harnessed to filter out the anyon eigenbasis, also known as minimally entangled states. This allows for efficient computation of universal properties, such as the entanglement spectrum and modular matrices. The potential of our method is demonstrated by numerical calculations in two chiral spin liquids that have the same topological orders as the bosonic Laughlin and Moore-Read states, respectively. The anyon eigenbasis for the first one has been worked out before and serves as a useful benchmark. The anyon eigenbasis of the second one is, however, not transparent, and its successful construction provides a nontrivial corroboration of our method.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Emergence of topological states in relaxation dynamics of interacting bosons

Topological concepts have been employed to understand the ground states of many strongly correlated systems, but it is still quite unclear if and how topology manifests itself in the relaxation dynamics. Here we uncover emergent topological phenomena in the time evolution of far-from-equilibrium one-dimensional interacting bosons. Beginning with simple product states, the system evolves into long-time stationary states with high energy that are nonthermal for a wide range of parameters, and they exhibit nonlocal string correlation that is characteristic of the symmetry-protected topological ground state of the Hamiltonian. In contrast, no topological feature is found in the stationary state as long as the system thermalizes. This difference is further corroborated by the distinct behaviour of quantum entanglement and edge states of the system. Our theoretical prediction can be examined by current experimental techniques and paves the way for a more comprehensive understanding of topological phases in nonequilibrium settings.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2025

Non-Abelian interlayer coherent fractional quantum Hall states

We study non-Abelian fractional quantum Hall state in double layer systems at total filling factor $1/2$. Recent progresses in two-dimensional van der Waals materials made it possible to explore the regime with very small interlayer distance. Numerical calculations suggests interlayer phase coherence can develop between the layers such that the electrons may redistribute between them without changing the Hall response. It corresponds to spontaneous breaking of the U(1) symmetry associated with the particle number difference in the layers. This state manifests itself as superfluid in counterflow measurement and has characteristic Hall response when current is passed through one layer and voltages in both layers are measured. As the interlayer distance increases, a phase transition to the Halperin 331 state occurs. We also discuss similar physics for bosonic systems with specially designed interactions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Extracting the Luttinger parameter from a single wave function

The low-energy physics of Tomonaga-Luttinger liquids (TLLs) is controlled by the Luttinger parameter. We demonstrate that this parameter can be extracted from a single wave function for one-component TLLs with periodic boundary condition. This method relies on the fact that TLLs are described by conformal field theory in which crosscap states can be constructed. The overlaps between the crosscap states and the ground state as well as some excited states are proved to be universal numbers that directly reveal the Luttinger parameter. In microscopic lattice models, crosscap states are formed by putting each pair of antipodal sites into a maximally entangled state. Analytical and numerical calculations are performed in a few representative models to substantiate the conformal field theory prediction. The extracted Luttinger parameters are generally quite accurate in finite-size systems with moderate lengths, so there is no need to perform data fitting and/or finite-size scaling.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Energy Bands of Incommensurate Systems

Energy band theory is a fundamental cornerstone of condensed matter physics. According to conventional wisdom, discrete translational symmetry is mandatory for defining energy bands. Here, we illustrate that, in fact, the concept of energy band can be generalized to incommensurate systems lacking such symmetry, thus transcending the traditional paradigm of energy band. The validity of our theory is verified by extensive numerical calculations in the celebrated Aubry-André-Harper model and a two-dimensional incommensurate model of graphene. Building upon the proposed concept of incommensurate energy bands, we further develop a theory of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) for incommensurate systems, providing a clear physical picture for the incommensurate ARPES spectra. Our work establishes a comprehensive energy band theory for incommensurate systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Tunable even- and odd-denominator fractional quantum Hall states in trilayer graphene

The fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states are exotic quantum many-body phases whose elementary charged excitations are neither bosons nor fermions but anyons, obeying fractional braiding statistics. While most FQH states are believed to have Abelian anyons, the Moore-Read type states with even denominators, appearing at half filling of a Landau level (LL), are predicted to possess non-Abelian excitations with appealing potentials in topological quantum computation. These states, however, depend sensitively on the orbital contents of the single-particle LL wavefunction and the mixing between different LLs. Although they have been observed in a few materials, their non-Abelian statistics still awaits experimental confirmation. Here we show magnetotransport measurements on Bernal-stacked trilayer graphene (TLG), whose unique multiband structure facilitates the interlaced LL mixing, which can be controlled by external magnetic and displacement fields. We observe a series of robust FQH states including even-denominator ones at filling factors $ν=-9/2$, $-3/2$, $3/2$ and $9/2$. In addition, we are able to finetune the LL mixing and crossings to drive quantum phase transitions of these half-filling states and their neighboring odd-denominator ones, exhibiting a related emerging and waning behavior. Our results establish TLG as a controllable system for tuning the weights of LL orbitals and mixing strength, and a fresh platform to seek for non-Abelian quasi-particles.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗