Quantum nematic as ground state of a two-dimensional electron gas in a magnetic field

We study the ground state of a nematic phase of the two- dimensional electron gas at filling fraction v = 1/2 using a variational wave function having Jastrow pair correlations of the form Pi(i<j)(z(i)- z(j))(2) and an elliptical Fermi sea. Using the Fermi-hypernetted-chain approximation, we find that below a critical value of the broken-symmetry parameter, the nematic phase is energetically favorable as compared to the isotropic state for the second excited Landau level. We also find that below a critical value of the layer "thickness" parameter lambda (and in the actual materials), the quantum nematic is energetically favorable relative to the stripe ordered Wigner crystal phase.