We investigate the modular properties of the characters which appear in the
partition functions of non-abelian fractional quantum Hall states. We firs
t give the annulus partition function for nonabelian FQH states formed by s
pinon and holon (spinon-holon state). The degrees of freedom of spin are de
scribed by the affine SU(2) Kac-Moody algebra at level k. The partition fun
ction and the Hilbert space of the edge excitations decomposed differently
according to whether k is even or odd. We then investigate the full modular
properties of the extended characters for non-abelian fractional quantum H
all states. We explicitly verify the modular invariance of the annulus gran
d partition functions for spinon-holon states, the Pfaffian state and the 3
31 states. This enables one to extend the relation between the modular beha
vior and the topological order to non-abelian cases. For the Haldane-Rezayi
state, we find that the extended characters do not form a representation o
f the modular group, thus the modular invariance is broken. We also find a
new relation between the Haldane-Rezayi state and the 331 state and suggest
its implications for 'The upsilon = 5/2 Enigma'. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science
B.V.