Two-electron Laughlin relative probability

ID: two-electron-laughlin-relative-probability

Consider the original two-Electron example obtained by taking in the Laughlin wavefunction, with no additional polynomial for the centre of mass. Introduce , relative complex coordinate , separation , and dimensionless separation . Since , the probability density factorizes:
Integrating out leaves an isotropic relative probability density. Define per unit dimensionless area and per unit dimensionless separation:
The physical areal probability density is . The probability of a separation between and is . The extra comes from the Jacobian determinant in polar coordinates: a thin annulus has area . Omitting that factor changes the question being answered.
Figure 1.
Pair avoidance and the annular Jacobian determinant in a two-Electron Laughlin wavefunction
. Original normalized model curves for chosen odd exponents and . Left: relative probability density per unit dimensionless area. Right: probability density of dimensionless separation, including the annular factor . Markers identify the respective maxima. These finite two-particle curves are not measured data or the pair distribution of an infinite fluid. Details.
Both wavefunction normalization and the peak shift can be checked exactly. The substitution gives the Gamma function integral
For , logarithmic differentiation gives
Consequently the areal maximum lies at , while the most probable separation lies farther out, at . For these are and ; for , and . The same substitution gives , so the root mean square separations are and respectively. The distinction between a probability density maximum and a radial maximum therefore has a directly calculable geometric origin.
This two-Electron model explains exchange and pair avoidance. It does not establish a nonzero many-particle spectral gap, an extended quantum Hall plateau, or the topological properties of a fluid in the thermodynamic limit. Those require additional many-Electron reasoning and experimental tests.

New to topics? Read the docs here!