SFB 1238 | June 11, 17:00

Nonlocal Moments and Mott Semimetal in a model of Twisted Bilayer Graphene

Patrick Ledwith

Early on it was noticed that twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) has elements in common with two paradigmatic examples of strongly correlated physics: Hubbard physics and quantum Hall physics. On the one hand, TBG hosts flat topological Landau-level-like bands which realize quantum anomalous Hall states and orbital ferromagnetism under the right conditions. On the other hand, these bands are characterized by concentrated charge density and show experimental signs of fluctuating magnetism, and unconventional superconductivty. The emergence of fluctuating moments is particularly surprising, as localized Wannier states do not exist in topological bands. I will discuss a phenomenological model for the flat bands in TBG that centers the concentration of charge density and, relatedly, the concentration of Berry flux. The bands obtained have excellent quantitative agreement with the Bistritzer-Macdonald model for realistic parameters. I will show that, rather remarkably, the model hosts decoupled flavor moments which, despite being power-law delocalized with infinite localization length, have parametrically small overlap with each other. These "nonlocal" moments lead to a novel "Mott Semimetal" regime, with large flavor entropy and mostly, but not entirely, frozen charge.


Harvard University
Seminar Room of the Institute of Physics II
Contact: Urban Seifert