QUANTUM HALL CONDUCTION IN QUANTUM WIRES

The nature of quantum Hall conduction in quantum wires is revealed from a numerical study. Whereas the Hall conductivity, sigma(xy) for the fixed chemical potential, gives quantum Hall steps, sigma(xy) for a fixed number of electrons, as appropriate for mesoscopic systems, an oscillation is exhibited against the Aharonov-Bohm flux PHI with period (1/2)phi0. The flux-averaged sigma(xy) vanishes, which guarantees the validity of the use of transmission coefficients even in magnetic fields, and also restores the Onsager reciprocity for Hall-bar samples.