12.

1 Introduction 675

Magnetic field (T)

Figure 12.3: The longitudinal and transverse components of the resistivity as a

function of the magnetic field, for a high-mobility GaAs-AlGaAs sample (after f981).
A large number of fractional QHE plateaus are identified. The dashed line shows the
classical result (12.9).

nature, so it is all the more remarkable that its discovery came entirely
unanticipated. Indeed, its understanding is still not complete.
In the present Chapter, we cannot hope to cover more than the
most elementary aspects of &HE theory. We will usually restrict our
attention to T = 0. It turns out that the oYzplateaus can be discussed
in terms of equilibrium concepts (the vanishing of pzz shows that there
is no dissipative current in the corresponding parameter range). We will
not attempt to develop a true transport theory which might describe
finite temperatures and/or the regions in between the plateaus.
Our argument exploits in an essential way that QHE is an effect in a
two-dimensional electron system. Without going into details, let us ac-
cept that the Si MOSFET devices, and interfaces in GaAs heterostruc-
tures, provide experimental realizations of a strictly two-dimensional
electron system (see 12091 for an introduction). The way this works is