ABSTRACT
336In this set of lectures, we give a brief introduction to the quantum Hall effect (QHE). We recall the classical Hall effect and then study the quantum Hall effect by solving the Landau level problem in quantum mechanics. We introduce the Laughlin wavefunction as a many-body wave-function which leads, through the plasma analogy, to fractional fillings and thus a solution of the fractional QHE problem. We briefly touch upon the idea of localisation leading to plateau formation. We discuss a (modified) Chern-Simons theory of the QHE and finally, we introduce Jain’s composite fermions.
