Comparing conductance quantization in quantum wires and quantum Hall systems

We suggest a means to calculate the de conductance of a one-dimensional electron system described by the Luttinger model. Our approach is based on the ideas of Landauer and Buttiker on transport in ballistic channels and on the methods of current algebra. We analyze in detail the way in which the system can be coupled to external reservoirs. This determines-whether the conductance is renormalized or not. We provide a parallel treatment of a quantum wire and a fractional quantum Hall system on a cylinder with two widely separated edges. Although both systems are described by the same effective theory, the physical electrons are identified with different types of excitations, and hence the coupling to external reservoirs is different. As a consequence, the conductance in the wire is quantized in integer units of e(2)/h per spin orientation whereas the Hall conductance allows for fractional quantization.