Spontaneous coherence and the quantum Hall effect in triple-layer electron systems.

We investigate spontaneous interlayer phase coherence and the occurrence of the quantum Hall effect in triple-layer electron systems. Our work is based on a simple tight-binding model that greatly facilitates calculations and whose accuracy is verified by comparison with recent experiments. By calculating the ground state in an unrestricted Hartree-Fock approximation and the collective-mode spectrum in a time-dependent Hartree-Fock approximation, we construct a phase diagram delimiting regions in the parameter space of the model where the integer quantum Hall effect occurs in the absence of interlayer tunneling. PACS numbers: 73.20.Dx, 75.10.-b, 64.60.Cn Typeset using REVTEX