 Laughlin wavefunction

In condensed matter physics, the Laughlin wavefunction is an ansatz, proposed by Robert Laughlin for the ground state of a two-dimensional electron gas placed in a uniform background magnetic field in the presence of a uniform jellium background when the filling factor (Quantum Hall effect) of the lowest Landau level is formula_1 where formula_2 is an odd positive integer.It was constructed to explain the observation of the formula_3 fractional quantum Hall effect, and predicted the existence of additional formula_4 states as well as quasiparticle excitations with fractional electric charge formula_5, both of which were later experimentally observed.