Particle-hole symmetry without particle-hole symmetry in the quantum Hall effect at ν = 5/2

Numerical results suggest that the quantum Hall effect at ν = 5/2 is described by the Pfaffian or anti-Pfaffian state in the absence of disorder and Landau level mixing. Those states are incompatible with the observed transport properties of GaAs heterostructures, where disorder and Landau level mixing are strong. We show that the recent proposal of a PH-Pfaffian topological order by Son is consistent with all experiments. The absence of the particle-hole symmetry at ν = 5/2 is not an obstacle to the existence of the PH-Pfaffian order since the order is robust to symmetry breaking.

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