This monograph presents an intuitive theory of trial wave functions for strongly interacting fermions in fractional quantum Hall states. The correlation functions for the proposed fermion interactions follow a novel algebraic approach that harnesses the classical theory of invariants and semi-invariants of binary forms. This approach can be viewed as a fitting and far-reaching generalization of Laughlin's approach to trial wave functions. Aesthetically viewed, it illustrates an attractive symbiosis between the theory of invariants and the theory of correlations. Early research into numerical diagonalization computations for small numbers of electrons shows strong agreement with the constructed trial wave functions.The monograph offers researchers and students of condensed matter physics an accessible discussion of this interesting area of research.

This monograph presents an intuitive theory of trial wave functions for strongly interacting fermions in fractional quantum Hall states. The correlation functions for the proposed fermion interactions follow a novel algebraic approach that harnesses the classical theory of invariants and semi-invariants of binary forms. This approach can be viewed as a fitting and far-reaching generalization of Laughlin's approach to trial wave functions. Aesthetically viewed, it illustrates an attractive symbiosis between the theory of invariants and the theory of correlations. Early research into numerical diagonalization computations for small numbers of electrons shows strong agreement with the constructed trial wave functions.The monograph offers researchers and students of condensed matter physics an accessible discussion of this interesting area of research.

Several of the classical sequences in enumerative combinatorics have q-generalizations arising as generating functions for statistics defined on finite discrete structures. When q = 1, these generating functions reduce to the original sequences. When q = -1, on the other hand, one gets the difference in cardinalities between those members of a set having an even value for some statistic (on the set) with those members having an odd value. The current text provides a systematic study of the case q = -1, giving both algebraic and combinatorial treatments. For the latter, appropriate sign-reversing involutions are defined on the associated class of discrete structures. Among the structures studied are permutations, binary sequences, Laguerre configurations, derangements, Catalan words, and finite set partitions. As a consequence of our results, we obtain bijective proofs of congruences involving Stirling, Bell, and Catalan numbers. This text studies an interesting problem in enumerative combinatorics and is suitable for an audience ranging from motivated undergraduates to researchers in the field.