Spin polarization of the ν=5/2 quantum Hall state

We numerically study the spin polarization of the fractional quantum Hall state at filling factor nu=5/2. By using both exact diagonalization and the density matrix renormalization group methods on the sphere, we are able to analyze more values of partial spin polarization (in addition to fully polarized and unpolarized) than any previous studies. We find that for the Coulomb interaction the exact finite-system ground state is fully polarized, for shifts corresponding to both the Moore-Read Pfaffian state and its particle-hole conjugate (anti-Pfaffian). This result is found to be robust against small variations in the interaction and change of shift. The low-energy excitation spectrum is consistent with spin-wave excitations of a fully magnetized ferromagnet.