Universality in the Crossover between Edge Channel and Bulk Transport in the Quantum Hall Regime

We present a new theoretical approach for the integer quantum Hall effect, which is able to describe the inter-plateau transitions as well as the transition to the Hall insulator. We find two regimes (metallic and insulator like) of the top Landau level, in which the dissipative bulk current appears in different directions. The regimes are separated by a temperature invariant point.