Effective field theory of fractional quantized Hall nematics

Abstract

We present a Landau-Ginzburg theory for a fractional quantized Hall nematic state and the transition to it from an isotropic fractional quantum Hall state. This justifies Lifshitz-Chern-Simons theory—which is shown to be its dual—on a more microscopic basis and enables us to compute a ground-state wave function in the symmetry-broken phase. In such a state of matter, the Hall resistance remains quantized while the longitudinal dc resistivity due to thermally excited quasiparticles is anisotropic. We interpret recent experiments at Landau-level filling factor ν=7/3 in terms of our theory.