DISSIPATION IN THE QUANTUM HALL-EFFECT BY TRANSVERSE CIRCULATION OF ELECTRONS

In a mid-plateau situation there exists a reversible uphill dow (in th e direction of the Hall field E(y)) of the electron liquid with the cu rrent density J(11q.). Inelastic processes cause excitations to be sca ttered downhill with the current density J(exc.), which satisfies the condition J(exc.) + J(11q.) = 0. The conversion at the edge of the rev ersible uphill how to the dissipative downhill how is mediated by the edge states. It is shown that transverse circulation of electrons impl ies the temperature independence of the ratio Delta rho(xy)/rho(xx)(mi n), where rho(xx)(min) is the minimal value of the longitudinal resist ivity at the given temperature T, and Delta rho(xy) = rho(xy)(0).