For filled, separated, noninteracting magnetic Bloch bands, the Berry curvature integral over the magnetic Brillouin zone is an integer Chern number , giving . Patches of Berry connection meet through phases with integer windings; continuous gap-preserving changes cannot change . D. J. Thouless, M. Kohmoto, M. P. Nightingale and M. den Nijs developed this band argument; it does not establish the interacting fractional case.[ref]
David Thouless Created 2026-10-24 Updated 2026-11-05
David Thouless coauthored a theory connecting the Hall conductivity of a two-dimensional electron gas to a topological invariant. In a uniform magnetic field and periodic potential, the Kubo formula can be written so that quantization becomes explicit when the Fermi energy lies in a gap. The integer character of the response explains why continuous changes of microscopic parameters need not continuously change the Hall plateau. A transition between distinct plateaus requires leaving the conditions that protect that quantization.[ref]
A physicist who researched superfluidity and superconductivity in thin systems.[ref]
M. den Nijs Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-11-05
A theoretical researcher whose joint analysis of electrons in a periodic potential helped give the quantum Hall effect a topological description. Integrating information about the quantum states across their momentum domain yields an integer contribution to Hall conductivity. The calculation relates the geometry of wavefunctions to a macroscopic electrical response.[ref]
M. Kohmoto Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-11-05
A theoretical researcher whose joint work connected the quantum Hall effect with a topological invariant. For electrons in a two-dimensional periodic potential and magnetic field, the Hall response can be expressed using the structure of occupied quantum states. Its integer character explains how a transport coefficient can remain quantized despite changes in microscopic details.[ref]
M. P. Nightingale Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-11-05
A researcher whose joint theory showed that Hall conductivity can be tied to an integer associated with electronic wavefunctions. The result connects an electrical measurement with topology: changing the invariant requires leaving the conditions under which the occupied states remain separated by an energy gap. This helps explain the stability of quantized transport.[ref]
Quantum Hall plateau 2026-10-18
The degeneracy of a Landau level is per resolved internal branch in area . The filling factor varies continuously. Additional localized eigenstates need not carry bulk transport, allowing an integer plateau over an interval of ; a mobility gap need not be an empty spectral gap.[ref]
Figure 1.
Chosen quantum Hall staircase and longitudinal response
. Details.
The plot is an original phenomenological construction, not measured data or a calculation of Anderson localization. It stipulates dimensionless transverse sheet conductivity and longitudinal sheet conductivity , with chosen , . Both are measured in units . The quantum Hall conductivity tensor inversion produces and . Regions near , yield plateaus near ; the model alone does not explain their microscopic robustness. Each step represents one resolved branch, without assuming unresolved spin or valley multiplicities.