Reduction and emergence in the fractional quantum Hall state

Lancaster, T.; Pexton, M.

doi:10.1016/j.shpsb.2015.10.004

Reduction and emergence in the fractional quantum Hall state

Lancaster, T.; Pexton, M.

Authors

Professor Tom Lancaster tom.lancaster@durham.ac.uk
Professor

M. Pexton

Abstract

We present the fractional quantum Hall (FQH) effect as a candidate emergent phenomenon. Unlike some other putative cases of condensed matter emergence (such as thermal phase transitions), the FQH effect is not based on symmetry breaking. Instead FQH states are part of a distinct class of ordered matter that is defined topologically. Topologically ordered states result from complex long-ranged correlations between their constituent parts, such that the system displays strongly irreducible, qualitatively novel properties.

Citation

Lancaster, T., & Pexton, M. (2015). Reduction and emergence in the fractional quantum Hall state. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 52(Part B), 343-357. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsb.2015.10.004

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Oct 12, 2015
Online Publication Date	Nov 3, 2015
Publication Date	Nov 3, 2015
Deposit Date	Nov 10, 2015
Publicly Available Date	Nov 3, 2017
Journal	Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics
Print ISSN	1355-2198
Publisher	Elsevier
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	52
Issue	Part B
Pages	343-357
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsb.2015.10.004
Keywords	Emergence, Condensed matter physics, Many-body quantum mechanics, Quantum field theory, Quantum Hall effect.

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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Copyright Statement
© 2015 This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/