2D Electrostatics and the Density of Quantum Fluids

Transcription

1 2D Electrostatics and the Density of Quantum Fluids Jakob Yngvason, University of Vienna with Elliott H. Lieb, Princeton University and Nicolas Rougerie, University of Grenoble Yerevan, September 5, 2016 Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 1 / 29

2 References N. Rougerie, JY, Incompressibility Estimates for the Laughlin Phase, CMP 336, (2015), arxiv: N. Rougerie, JY, Incompressibility Estimates for the Laughlin Phase, Part II, CMP 339, (2015), arxiv: E.H. Lieb, N. Rougerie, JY, A universal density bound for perturbations of the Laughlin liquid, preprint Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 2 / 29

3 References N. Rougerie, JY, Incompressibility Estimates for the Laughlin Phase, CMP 336, (2015), arxiv: N. Rougerie, JY, Incompressibility Estimates for the Laughlin Phase, Part II, CMP 339, (2015), arxiv: E.H. Lieb, N. Rougerie, JY, A universal density bound for perturbations of the Laughlin liquid, preprint See also: N. Rougerie, S. Serfaty, J.Y., Quantum Hall states of bosons in rotating anharmonic traps, Phys. Rev. A 87, (2013); arxiv: N. Rougerie, S. Serfaty, J.Y., Quantum Hall Phases and the Plasma Analogy in Rotating Trapped Bose Gases, J. Stat. Phys, 154, 2 50 (2014), arxiv: Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 2 / 29

4 The Laughlin wave function The Laughlin wave function, suggested by Laughlin in 1983 as a variational ansatz for the ground state of a 2D electron gas in a strong perpendicular magnetic field, has the form Ψ (l) Laugh = C N,l (z i z j ) l e N i<j i=1 z i 2 /2 with l odd 3 and C N,l a normalization constant. The factors (z i z j ) l strongly suppress a repulsive interaction between the particles. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 3 / 29

5 The Laughlin wave function The Laughlin wave function, suggested by Laughlin in 1983 as a variational ansatz for the ground state of a 2D electron gas in a strong perpendicular magnetic field, has the form Ψ (l) Laugh = C N,l (z i z j ) l e N i<j i=1 z i 2 /2 with l odd 3 and C N,l a normalization constant. The factors (z i z j ) l strongly suppress a repulsive interaction between the particles. This function is basic for the understanding of the FQHE. One can also consider such functions for bosons with l is even and 2. Such a function describes a highly correlated state of a quantum fluid. It is important to understand the robustness of the built-in correlations when the system is perturbed by an external potential V. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 3 / 29

6 The density of the Laughlin quantum fluid In his 1983 paper Laughlin claimed that the 1-particle density of Ψ (l) Laugh within its support is close to (lπ) 1. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 4 / 29

7 The density of the Laughlin quantum fluid In his 1983 paper Laughlin claimed that the 1-particle density of Ψ (l) Laugh within its support is close to (lπ) 1. Methaphoric picture of the N-particle density (not due to Laughlin!): The particles change places randomly but in a correlated way, as tightly packed as the factors (z i z j ) l allow, like huddling emperor penguins during an Antarctic winter. Each penguin claims on the average an area lπ. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 4 / 29

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9 The plasma analogy Laughlin s argument for the density (lπ) 1 is more mathematical. It is based on the plasma analogy : The N-particle density Ψ (l) Laugh 2 can be interpreted as the Boltzmann-Gibbs factor at temperature T = N 1 of classical 2D jellium, i.e., a 2D Coulomb gas in a uniform neutralizing background. A mean field approximation leads to the claimed density. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 5 / 29

10 The plasma analogy Laughlin s argument for the density (lπ) 1 is more mathematical. It is based on the plasma analogy : The N-particle density Ψ (l) Laugh 2 can be interpreted as the Boltzmann-Gibbs factor at temperature T = N 1 of classical 2D jellium, i.e., a 2D Coulomb gas in a uniform neutralizing background. A mean field approximation leads to the claimed density. Numerical calculations (O. Ciftja) show, however, that the density may be considerably larger than (lπ) 1 close to the edge. The result can thus only hold in a suitable weak sense in the limit N. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 5 / 29

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12 The density as a Boltzmann-Gibbs factor We denote (z 1,..., z N ) by Z for short and consider the scaled N particle probability density (normalized to 1) µ (N) (Z) = N N Ψ (l) Laugh ( NZ) 2. We can write µ (N) (Z) = Z 1 N exp N N z j 2 + 2l log z i z j i<j j=1 Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 6 / 29

13 The density as a Boltzmann-Gibbs factor We denote (z 1,..., z N ) by Z for short and consider the scaled N particle probability density (normalized to 1) µ (N) (Z) = N N Ψ (l) Laugh ( NZ) 2. We can write µ (N) (Z) = Z 1 N with T = N 1 and exp N N z j 2 + 2l log z i z j i<j j=1 = Z 1 N exp ( 1 T H N(Z) ), H N (Z) = N j=1 z j 2 + 2l N log i<j 1 z i z j. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 6 / 29

14 The free energy functional The probability measure µ (N) (Z) minimizes the free energy functional F(µ) = H N (Z)µ(Z) + T µ(z) log µ(z) for this Hamiltonian at T = N 1. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 7 / 29

15 The free energy functional The probability measure µ (N) (Z) minimizes the free energy functional F(µ) = H N (Z)µ(Z) + T µ(z) log µ(z) for this Hamiltonian at T = N 1. The N limit is in this interpretation a mean field limit where at the same time T 0. It is thus not unreasonable to expect that for large N, in a suitable sense µ (N) mf N ρ with a one-particle density ρ mf minimizing a mean field free energy functional. F mf [ρ] = z 2 ρ + l R 2 ρ(z) log 1 z z ρ(z ) + N 1 R 2 ρ log ρ. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 7 / 29

16 The mean field limit A rigorous estimate proving the convergence of the true 1-particle density to the mean field density ρ mf was derived by Rougerie, Serfaty and JY in 2013: Theorem (Comparison of true density and mean field density) There exists a constant C > 0 such that for large enough N and any U H 1 (R 2 ) W 2, (R 2 ) ( µ (1) ρ mf) U C(log N/N)1/2 U L 1 + CN 1 2 U L. R 2 Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 8 / 29

17 Properties of the Mean Field Density The picture of the 1-particle density arises from asymptotic formulas for the mean-field density. The latter is, for large N, well approximated by a density ˆρ mf that minimizes the mean field functional without the entropy term. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 9 / 29

18 Properties of the Mean Field Density The picture of the 1-particle density arises from asymptotic formulas for the mean-field density. The latter is, for large N, well approximated by a density ˆρ mf that minimizes the mean field functional without the entropy term. The variational equation satisfied by this density is: z 2 2lˆρ mf log z C 0 with = where ˆρ mf > 0 and > where ρ mf = 0. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 9 / 29

19 Properties of the Mean Field Density The picture of the 1-particle density arises from asymptotic formulas for the mean-field density. The latter is, for large N, well approximated by a density ˆρ mf that minimizes the mean field functional without the entropy term. The variational equation satisfied by this density is: z 2 2lˆρ mf log z C 0 with = where ˆρ mf > 0 and > where ρ mf = 0. Applying the Laplacian gives 1 lπ ˆρ mf (z) = 0 where ˆρ > 0. Hence ˆρ mf takes the constant value (lπ) 1 on its support. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 9 / 29

20 The Extended Laughlin phase To allow for a response of the Laughlin state to an external potential V we consider the extended Laughlin phase, L l,n, defined as the space of square integrable wave functions of the form Ψ = φ(z 1,..., z N )Ψ (l) Laugh with φ holomorphic and symmetric. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 10 / 29

21 The Extended Laughlin phase To allow for a response of the Laughlin state to an external potential V we consider the extended Laughlin phase, L l,n, defined as the space of square integrable wave functions of the form Ψ = φ(z 1,..., z N )Ψ (l) Laugh with φ holomorphic and symmetric. The space L l,n consist exactly of functions that belong to the LLL vanish at least as (z i z j ) l as z i and z j come together, to avoid a strong repulsive interaction. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 10 / 29

22 The effect of the prefactor φ Minimizing in L l,n the expectation value of the physical many-body Hamiltonian with a contact interaction leads to a variational problem of a special kind where only the integral of the density against the potential enters. Changing V changes the optimal prefactor φ, and thus deforms the density distribution. However, we claim that The density of any function in L l,n is still bounded above by (πl) 1 (in a suitable weak sense). Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 11 / 29

23 The effect of the prefactor φ Minimizing in L l,n the expectation value of the physical many-body Hamiltonian with a contact interaction leads to a variational problem of a special kind where only the integral of the density against the potential enters. Changing V changes the optimal prefactor φ, and thus deforms the density distribution. However, we claim that The density of any function in L l,n is still bounded above by (πl) 1 (in a suitable weak sense). In other words: The prefactor can only shift or decrease the density, not increase it. We refer to this property as the incompressibility of the extended Laughlin phase. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 11 / 29

24 The Main Theorem Define { E l (V, N) = inf V (z)µ (1) (z)dz : Ψ L N l } and the bathtub energy { El bt (V ) = inf V (z)ρ(z)dz : 0 ρ (lπ) 1, } ρ = 1. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 12 / 29

25 The Main Theorem Define { E l (V, N) = inf V (z)µ (1) (z)dz : Ψ L N l } and the bathtub energy { El bt (V ) = inf V (z)ρ(z)dz : 0 ρ (lπ) 1, } ρ = 1. Theorem (Optimal incompressibility bound) For any V C 2 (R 2 ) lim inf E l(v, N) El bt (V ). N Moreover, V is radially symmetric, monotonously increasing and polynomially bounded, equality holds and is asymptotically achieved for the Laughlin wave function. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 12 / 29

26 Why is a density bound important? demonstrates the strong resistance of the Laughlin wave function against compression Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 13 / 29

27 Why is a density bound important? demonstrates the strong resistance of the Laughlin wave function against compression justifies the neglect of disorder and/or small external electric field Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 13 / 29

28 Why is a density bound important? demonstrates the strong resistance of the Laughlin wave function against compression justifies the neglect of disorder and/or small external electric field justifies Laughlin s argument for Hall conductivity 1/l since an electric current moves charges transversally but cannot accumulate them Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 13 / 29

29 Why is a density bound important? demonstrates the strong resistance of the Laughlin wave function against compression justifies the neglect of disorder and/or small external electric field justifies Laughlin s argument for Hall conductivity 1/l since an electric current moves charges transversally but cannot accumulate them provides a clear sign for a transition from a BEC regime to a FQHE regime in a rotating Bose gas Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 13 / 29

30 The general Gibbs-Boltzmann factor The first step in a proof of the theorem is to write the N-particle density as where T = 1 N. µ (N) (Z) = 1 exp ( 1T ) Z H(Z) N Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 14 / 29

31 The general Gibbs-Boltzmann factor The first step in a proof of the theorem is to write the N-particle density as where T = 1 N. µ (N) (Z) = 1 exp ( 1T ) Z H(Z) N The classical Hamiltonian is now of the form H(Z) = N j=1 z j 2 + 2l N 1 i<j N log 1 z i z j + W(Z). with W(Z) := 2 N log φ ( N Z ). Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 14 / 29

32 Special φ A mean field analysis, using a theorem of Diaconis and Freedman, is possible for a subclass of wave functions in L N l, namely for φ of the form N f 1 (z j ) f 2 (z i, z j ), j=1 (i,j) {1,...,N} Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 15 / 29

33 Special φ A mean field analysis, using a theorem of Diaconis and Freedman, is possible for a subclass of wave functions in L N l, namely for φ of the form N f 1 (z j ) f 2 (z i, z j ), j=1 (i,j) {1,...,N} The method extends, with some additional complications, to more general φ: N f 1 (z j ) f 2 (z i, z j )... f n (z i1,..., z in ). j=1 (i,j) {1,...,N} (i 1,...,i n) {1,...,N} with n fixed, or not growing too fast with N). Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 15 / 29

34 General φ For general φ(z), the potential W(Z) is a genuine N-body interaction, and a mean field approximation is at present out of reach. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 16 / 29

35 General φ For general φ(z), the potential W(Z) is a genuine N-body interaction, and a mean field approximation is at present out of reach. However, W(Z) has the important property of being superharmonic in each variable, i.e.. zi W(Z) 0 for each z i. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 16 / 29

36 General φ For general φ(z), the potential W(Z) is a genuine N-body interaction, and a mean field approximation is at present out of reach. However, W(Z) has the important property of being superharmonic in each variable, i.e.. zi W(Z) 0 for each z i. Using this property one can apply a different method to obtain an optimal incompressibility bound for all functions in L N l. The method is based on 2D electrostatics and the analysis of a Thomas-Fermi model of a special kind. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 16 / 29

37 A crucial property of H(Z) With these methods it can be proved that the density of the points z 0 i in a minimizing configuration Z 0 for H(Z) is, for large N, bounded by (πl) 1. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 17 / 29

38 A crucial property of H(Z) With these methods it can be proved that the density of the points z 0 i in a minimizing configuration Z 0 for H(Z) is, for large N, bounded by (πl) 1. More precisely: Define ρ 0 (z) = 1 N N δ(z zi 0 ). j=1 There exists a nonnegative bounded function ρ 0 of integral 1 such that ρ 0 (z) 1 (1 + o(1)) πl and for any differentiable function f on R 2 in the limit N. R 2 ( ρ 0 ρ 0) f 0 Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 17 / 29

39 An auxiliary TF model The proof of the crucial property is based on a study of an auxiliary Thomas-Fermi model. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 18 / 29

40 An auxiliary TF model The proof of the crucial property is based on a study of an auxiliary Thomas-Fermi model. For fixed points x i R 2 ( nuclei ) we define a functional of functions σ( ) on R 2 ( electron density ) by E[σ] = V nucl (x)σ(x) dx + D(σ, σ) with V nucl (x) = n 1 log x x i, i=1 D(σ, σ ) = σ(x) log x x σ (x ) dx dx and the conditions σ(x) log(1 + x )dx <, 0 σ(x) 1, σ(x)dx = n. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 18 / 29

41 Basic properties There exists a unique minimizer, σ TF. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 19 / 29

42 Basic properties There exists a unique minimizer, σ TF. The minimizer has compact support. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 19 / 29

43 Basic properties There exists a unique minimizer, σ TF. The minimizer has compact support. Apart of a set of measure zero, σ TF takes only the values 0 or 1. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 19 / 29

44 Basic properties There exists a unique minimizer, σ TF. The minimizer has compact support. Apart of a set of measure zero, σ TF takes only the values 0 or 1. The TF equation holds: where Φ TF (x) = is the electrostatic potential. { 0 if σ TF (x) = 1 0 if σ TF (x) = 0 Φ TF (x) = V nucl (x) log 1 σtf (x) Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 19 / 29

45 Basic properties There exists a unique minimizer, σ TF. The minimizer has compact support. Apart of a set of measure zero, σ TF takes only the values 0 or 1. The TF equation holds: where Φ TF (x) = is the electrostatic potential. { 0 if σ TF (x) = 1 0 if σ TF (x) = 0 Φ TF (x) = V nucl (x) log 1 σtf (x) The derivation of these properties requires some effort because the TF model is of a singular type and standard methods have to be modified. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 19 / 29

46 The support of σ TF According to the TF equation the support of σ TF is the same as the support of the potential Φ TF which is continuous away from the nuclei. Denote by B(x 1,..., x n ) the open set where Φ TF is strictly larger than 0. The support is the closure B and Φ TF is zero on the boundary B. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 20 / 29

47 The support of σ TF According to the TF equation the support of σ TF is the same as the support of the potential Φ TF which is continuous away from the nuclei. Denote by B(x 1,..., x n ) the open set where Φ TF is strictly larger than 0. The support is the closure B and Φ TF is zero on the boundary B. Important properties: The area of B(x 1,..., x n ) is equal to n. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 20 / 29

48 The support of σ TF According to the TF equation the support of σ TF is the same as the support of the potential Φ TF which is continuous away from the nuclei. Denote by B(x 1,..., x n ) the open set where Φ TF is strictly larger than 0. The support is the closure B and Φ TF is zero on the boundary B. Important properties: The area of B(x 1,..., x n ) is equal to n. B(x 1,..., x n 1 ) B(x 1,..., x n ). Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 20 / 29

49 The support of σ TF According to the TF equation the support of σ TF is the same as the support of the potential Φ TF which is continuous away from the nuclei. Denote by B(x 1,..., x n ) the open set where Φ TF is strictly larger than 0. The support is the closure B and Φ TF is zero on the boundary B. Important properties: The area of B(x 1,..., x n ) is equal to n. B(x 1,..., x n 1 ) B(x 1,..., x n ). For a single nucleus at x i, B(x i ) is the disc with center at x i and radius π 1/2. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 20 / 29

50 The exclusion rule for minimizing configurations Consider a classical jellium Hamiltonian with an additional plurisuperharmonic term: H(x 1,..., x N ) = π 2 N x i 2 + i=1 1 i<j N log 1 x i x j + W (x 1,..., x N ) with W symmetric and superharmonic in each variable x i. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 21 / 29

51 The exclusion rule for minimizing configurations Consider a classical jellium Hamiltonian with an additional plurisuperharmonic term: H(x 1,..., x N ) = π 2 N x i 2 + i=1 1 i<j N log 1 x i x j + W (x 1,..., x N ) with W symmetric and superharmonic in each variable x i. Proposition (Exclusion rule for minimizers) If (x 0 1,..., x0 N ) is a minimizing configuration for H, then for all 1 n N 1, x 0 i / B(x 0 1,..., x 0 n) for i = n + 1,..., N. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 21 / 29

52 Proof of the exclusion rule Fix x 0 j, j i = n + 1 and consider the function F (x) = H(x 0 1,..., x 0 n, x, x 0 n+2, x 0 N) We show that if x B(x 0 1,..., x0 n) B then there is a ˆx B such that F (ˆx) < F (x). Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 22 / 29

53 Proof of the exclusion rule Fix x 0 j, j i = n + 1 and consider the function F (x) = H(x 0 1,..., x 0 n, x, x 0 n+2, x 0 N) We show that if x B(x 0 1,..., x0 n) B then there is a ˆx B such that F (ˆx) < F (x). Adding and subtracting a term log 1 x 1 B we can write with Φ(x) = and R(x) = π 2 x 2 + B log F (x) = Φ(x) + R(x) n log i=1 1 x x 0 i log B 1 x x dx + N i=n+2 1 x x dx 1 log x x 0 + W (x) + const. i Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 22 / 29

54 Proof of the exclusion rule (cont.) Now Φ is precisely the TF potential corresponding to nuclear charges at x 0 i,... x0 n. Hence Φ > 0 on B and zero on the boundary B. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 23 / 29

55 Proof of the exclusion rule (cont.) Now Φ is precisely the TF potential corresponding to nuclear charges at x 0 i,... x0 n. Hence Φ > 0 on B and zero on the boundary B. The first two terms in R are harmonic on B when taken together. (The Laplacian applied to the first term gives 2π and to the second term 2π on B.) The other terms are superharmonic on B. Thus, R takes its minimum on the boundary, so there is a ˆx B with R(x) R(ˆx). On the other hand, Φ(x) > 0 = Φ(ˆx) so F (x) > F (ˆx). Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 23 / 29

56 Proof of the exclusion rule (cont.) Now Φ is precisely the TF potential corresponding to nuclear charges at x 0 i,... x0 n. Hence Φ > 0 on B and zero on the boundary B. The first two terms in R are harmonic on B when taken together. (The Laplacian applied to the first term gives 2π and to the second term 2π on B.) The other terms are superharmonic on B. Thus, R takes its minimum on the boundary, so there is a ˆx B with R(x) R(ˆx). On the other hand, Φ(x) > 0 = Φ(ˆx) so F (x) > F (ˆx). Altogether we have shown that in a minimizing configuration (x 0 1,..., x0 N ) of H, no x0 i can lie in any TF set B defined by other points in the configuration. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 23 / 29

57 A density bound The essential fact needed for the proof of our Main Theorem is the following density bound for configurations satisfying the exclusion rule: Proposition (Exclusion rule implies a density bound) For R > 0 let n(r) denote the maximum number of nuclei that a ball B(R) of radius R can accomodate while respecting the exclusion rule, i.e., such that {x 1,..., x n } B(R) implies x i / B(x 1,..., x i 1, x i+1,..., x n ). Then lim sup R n(r) πr 2 1. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 24 / 29

58 A density bound The essential fact needed for the proof of our Main Theorem is the following density bound for configurations satisfying the exclusion rule: Proposition (Exclusion rule implies a density bound) For R > 0 let n(r) denote the maximum number of nuclei that a ball B(R) of radius R can accomodate while respecting the exclusion rule, i.e., such that {x 1,..., x n } B(R) implies x i / B(x 1,..., x i 1, x i+1,..., x n ). Then lim sup R n(r) πr 2 1. The proof is somewhat tricky. It is indirect and makes use of bounds on the gradient of Φ TF and of Newton s theorem for its circular averages. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 24 / 29

59 Consequences for H(Z) After scaling, πl x z = N x, the density bound applies to the Hamiltonian H(Z) = N j=1 z j 2 + 2l N 1 i<j N log 1 z i z j + W (Z). Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 25 / 29

60 Consequences for H(Z) After scaling, πl x z = N x, the density bound applies to the Hamiltonian H(Z) = N j=1 z j 2 + 2l N 1 i<j N log 1 z i z j + W (Z). Using the cheese theorem one shows that for a minimizing configuration Z 0 = (z1 0,..., z0 N ) the empirical measure ρ 0 (z) = 1 N δ(z zi 0 ) N is approximated in the weak sense by by an absolutely continuous distribution ρ 0 of integral 1 satisfying the bound j=1 ρ 0 (z) 1 (1 + o(1)). πl Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 25 / 29

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62 The perturbed Hamiltonian To prove the Main Theorem (energy lower bound in terms of the bathtub energy) we have to consider a perturbed Hamiltonian N H ε (Z) = H(Z) + ε U(z i ) i=1 with ε > 0 and U C 2 (R 2 ) of compact support. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 26 / 29

63 The perturbed Hamiltonian To prove the Main Theorem (energy lower bound in terms of the bathtub energy) we have to consider a perturbed Hamiltonian N H ε (Z) = H(Z) + ε U(z i ) with ε > 0 and U C 2 (R 2 ) of compact support. We claim that if Z ε is a minimizing configuration of H ε, then the empirical measure ρ ε (z) = 1 N i=1 N δ(z zi ε ) is approximated in the weak sense by by a continuous distribution ρ ε of integral 1 satisfying the modified bound ρ ε (z) 1 πl (1 + o(1))( ε U ). j=1 Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 26 / 29

64 The perturbed Hamiltonian (cont.) The proof of the last statement is essentially the same as for the unperturbed Hamiltonian. We add and subtract ε 4 N U z i 2 i=1 and use that U(z) 1 4 U z 2 is superharmonic, so that can be absorbed in W. ε N ( U(zi ) 1 4 U z i 2) i=1 Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 27 / 29

65 The perturbed Hamiltonian (cont.) The proof of the last statement is essentially the same as for the unperturbed Hamiltonian. We add and subtract ε 4 N U z i 2 i=1 and use that U(z) 1 4 U z 2 is superharmonic, so that can be absorbed in W. ε N ( U(zi ) 1 4 U z i 2) i=1 The change of z 2 to ( 1 + ε 4 U ) z 2 has the same effect as dividing l by ( 1 + ε 4 U ). Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 27 / 29

66 Proof of the Main Theorem The free energy of the perturbed Hamiltonian is FN ε := inf { FN[µ], ε µ P(R 2N ) } where the free energy functional on the space P(R 2N ) of probability measures on R 2 is FN[µ] ε := H ε (Z)µ(Z)dZ + N 1 R 2N µ log µ R 2N Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 28 / 29

67 Proof of the Main Theorem The free energy of the perturbed Hamiltonian is F ε N := inf { F ε N[µ], µ P(R 2N ) } where the free energy functional on the space P(R 2N ) of probability measures on R 2 is FN[µ] ε := H ε (Z)µ(Z)dZ + N 1 R 2N µ log µ R 2N Formally, Uµ (1) is the derivative at ε = 0 of the free energy. The Main Theorem is proved via estimates on FN ε. The entropic part tends to zero as N so Uµ (1) is essentially the integral of U against the empirical measure for a minimizing configuration of H ε (Z). Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 28 / 29

68 Conclusions and outlook We have derived a rigorous density bound showing that the Laughlin wave function behaves as an incompressible liquid whose response to perturbations by external fields is very rigid. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 29 / 29

69 Conclusions and outlook We have derived a rigorous density bound showing that the Laughlin wave function behaves as an incompressible liquid whose response to perturbations by external fields is very rigid. The method of proof is based on the study of a 2D Thomas Fermi model of a special kind. The method has potential applications for 2D Coulomb systems and in random matrix theory. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 29 / 29

70 Conclusions and outlook We have derived a rigorous density bound showing that the Laughlin wave function behaves as an incompressible liquid whose response to perturbations by external fields is very rigid. The method of proof is based on the study of a 2D Thomas Fermi model of a special kind. The method has potential applications for 2D Coulomb systems and in random matrix theory. For certain radial potentials, upper bounds for the energy have also been derived, using trial functions of the form N f(z i )Ψ (l) Laugh (z 1,..., z N ). i=1 An important challenge is to prove, for all reasonable external potentials, that the ground state in the extended Laughlin phase always has this form. Jakob Yngvason (Uni Vienna) 2D Electrostatics 29 / 29