1995/12/06 by A. H. MacDonald, MacDonald, A. H.
Physics and Astronomy · #Condensed Matter (cond-mat) #FOS: Physical sciences #cond-mat
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.cond-mat/9512043
30 pages: 4 figures available on request
arxiv created 1995/12/06 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30
When the quantum Hall effect occurs in a two-dimensional electron gas, all low-energy elementary excitations are localized near the system edge. The edge acts in many ways like a one-dimensional ring of electrons, except that a finite current flows around the ring in equilibrium. This article is a brief and informal review of some of the physics of quantum Hall system edges. We discuss the implications of macroscopic \em compressible strip models for microscopic chiral Luttinger liquid models and make an important distinction between the origin of non-Fermi-liquid behavior in fractional quantum Hall edges and in usual one-dimensional electron gas systems.