Broken symmetries in the reconstruction of ν=1 quantum Hall edges

Spin-polarized reconstruction of the ν=1 quantum Hall edge is accompanied by a spatial modulation of the charge density along the edge. We find that this is also the case for finite quantum Hall droplets: current spin density functional calculations show that the so-called Chamon–Wen edge forms a ring of apparently localized electrons around the maximum density droplet (MDD). The boundaries of these different phases qualitatively agree with recent experiments. For very soft confinement, Chern–Simons Ginzburg–Landau theory indicates formation of a non-translational invariant edge with vortices (holes) trapped in the edge region.