On the extended nature of edge states of Quantum Hall Hamiltonians

Abstract

Properties of eigenstates of one-particle Quantum Hall Hamiltonians localized near the boundary of a two-dimensional electron gas - so-called edge states - are studied. For finite samples it is shown that edge states with energy in an appropriate range between Landau levels remain extended along the boundary in the presence of a small amount of disorder, in the sense that they carry a non-zero chiral edge current. For a two-dimensional electron gas confined to a half-plane, the Mourre theory of positive commutators is applied to prove absolute continuity of the energy spectrum well in between Landau levels, corresponding to edge states.

45 pages, 7 figures, reference added