EDGE ELECTROSTATICS OF A MESA-ETCHED SAMPLE AND EDGE-STATE-TO-BULK SCATTERING RATE IN THE FRACTIONAL QUANTUM HALL REGIME

To study the effects of Coulomb interactions on the properties of frac tional quantum Hall edge states, we introduce a realistic model of a t wo-dimensional electron gas at a mesa-etched sample edge and solve it within electrostatic and Hartree-Fock approximations. We discuss the p hysics of the fractional quantum Hall strips separating the conducting edge channels and ways of estimating the widths of these strips. We r elate our results to the measurements of nonlocal resistance by estima ting the quasiparticle scattering rate and the corresponding equilibra tion length between the edge states and the conducting bulk.