Fractional Angular Momentum and Anyon Statistics of Impurities in Laughlin Liquids.

ABSTRACT

The elementary excitations of a fractional quantum Hall liquid are quasiparticles or quasiholes that are neither bosons nor fermions, but are so-called anyons. Here we study impurity particles immersed in a quantum Hall liquid that bind to the quasiholes via repulsive interactions with the liquid. We show that the angular momentum of an impurity is given by the multiple of a fractional "quantum" of angular momentum, and can directly be observed from the impurity density. In a system with several impurities bound to quasiholes, their total angular momentum interpolates between the values for free fermions and for free bosons. This interpolation is characterized by the fractional statistical parameter of the anyons, which is typically defined via their braiding behavior.