  We review a recent development in the theoretical understanding of the nu=5/2
quantum Hall plateau and propose a new conformal field theory, slightly
different from the Moore-Read one, to describe another universality class
relevant for this plateau. The ground state is still given by the Pfaffian and
is completely polarized, however, the elementary quasiholes are charge 1/2
anyons with abelian statistics theta=pi/2, which obey complete spin-charge
separation. The physical hole is represented by two such quasiholes plus a free
neutral Majorana fermion. We also compute the periods and amplitudes of the
chiral persistent currents in both states and show that they have different
temperature dependence. Finally, we find indications of a classical two-step
phase transition between the new and the Moore-Read states, through a
compressible state, which is characterized by the spontaneous breaking of a
hidden Z_2 symmetry corresponding to the conservation of the chiral fermion
parity. We believe that this transition could explain the "kink" observed in
the activation experiment for nu=5/2.
