A twisted conformal field theory description of dissipative quantum mechanics

Abstract We show how the recently proposed CFT for a bilayer quantum Hall system at filling ν= m pm+2 [Mod. Phys. Lett. A 15 (2000) 1679; Nucl. Phys. B 641 (2002) 547; Phys. Lett. B 571 (2003) 250], the twisted model (TM), is equivalent to the system of two massless scalar bosons with a magnetic boundary interaction as introduced in [Nucl. Phys. B 443 (1995) 444], at the so-called “magic” points. We are then able to describe, within such a framework, the dissipative quantum mechanics of a particle confined to a plane and subject to an external magnetic field normal to it. Such an analogy is further developed in terms of the TM boundary states, by describing the interaction between an impurity with a Hall system.