Powers of Vandermonde determinants serve as model wave functions for the fractional quantum Hall effect. In this talk I will explain how one can realize the coefficients in the monomial basis as expectation values of operator products and how this captures the relevant features of those wave functions. This approach was inspired by the work of Estienne-Regnault Bernevig, where these wave functions arise as correlators of a certain conformal field theory. This is joint work with S. Warzel.