LAUGHLIN-JASTROW-CORRELATED WIGNER CRYSTAL IN A STRONG MAGNETIC-FIELD

We propose a ground-state trial wave function for a two-dimensional Wi gner crystal in a strong perpendicular magnetic field. The wave functi on includes Laughlin-Jastrow correlations between electron pairs, and may be interpreted as a crystal state of composite fermions or composi te bosons. Treating the power m of the Laughlin-Jastrow factor as a va riational parameter, we use quantum Monte Carlo simulations to compute the energy of these new states. We find that our wave functions have lower energy than existing crystalline wave functions in the lowest La ndau level. Our results are consistent with experimental observations of the filling factor at which the transition between the fractional q uantum Hall liquid and the Wigner crystal occurs for electron systems. Exchange contributions to the wave functions are estimated quantitati vely and shown to be negligible for sufficiently small filling factors .