Paper detail

Extracting the Quantum Hall Conductance from a Single Bulk Wavefunction

We propose a new formula that extracts the quantum Hall conductance from a single (2+1)D gapped wavefunction. The formula applies to general many-body systems that conserve particle number, and is based on the concept of modular flow: i.e., unitary dynamics generated from the entanglement structure of the wavefunction. The formula is shown to satisfy all formal properties of the Hall conductance: it is odd under time-reversal and reflection, even under charge conjugation, universal and topologically rigid in the thermodynamic limit. Further evidence for relating the formula to the Hall conductance is obtained from conformal field theory arguments. Finally, we numerically check the formula by applying it to a non-interacting Chern band where excellent agreement is obtained.