D-brane dynamics and the quantum Hall effect

We study the recently proposed D-brane configuration [1] modeling the quantum Hall effect, focusing on the nature of the interactions between the charged particles. Our analysis indicates that the interaction is repulsive, which it should be for the ground state of the system to behave as a quantum Hall liquid. The strength of interactions varies inversely with the filling fraction, leading us to conclude that a Wigner crystal is the ground state at small nu. For larger rational nu (still less than unity), it is reasonable to expect a fractional quantum Hall ground state.