A Generic Topological Criterion for Flat Bands in Two Dimensions

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Hauptverfasser: Parhizkar, Alireza, Galitski, Victor
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2023
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author Parhizkar, Alireza
Galitski, Victor
author_facet Parhizkar, Alireza
Galitski, Victor
contents We show that the continuum limit of moiré graphene is described by a $(2+1)$-dimensional field theory of Dirac fermions coupled to two classical vector fields: a periodic gauge and spin field. We further show that the existence of a flat band implies an effective dimensional reduction, where the time dimension is ``removed.'' The resulting two-dimensional Euclidean theory contains the chiral anomaly. The associated Atiyah-Singer index theorem provides a self-consistency condition for flat bands. In the Abelian limit, where the spin field is disregarded, we reproduce a periodic series of quantized magic angles known to exist in twisted bilayer graphene in the chiral limit. However, the results are not exact. If the Abelian field has zero total flux, perfectly flat bands can not exist, because of the leakage of edge states into neighboring triangular patches with opposite field orientations. We demonstrate that the non-Abelian spin component can correct this and completely flatten the bands via an effective renormalization of the Abelian component into a configuration with a non-zero total flux. We present the Abelianization of the theory where the Abelianized flat band can be mapped to that of the lowest Landau level. We show that the Abelianization corrects the values of the magic angles consistent with numerical results. We also use this criterion to prove that an external magnetic field splits the series into pairs of magnetic field-dependent magic angles associated with flat moiré-Landau bands. The topological criterion and the Abelianization procedure provide a generic practical method for finding flat bands in a variety of material systems including but not limited to moiré bilayers.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2301_00824
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Generic Topological Criterion for Flat Bands in Two Dimensions
Parhizkar, Alireza
Galitski, Victor
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Strongly Correlated Electrons
High Energy Physics - Theory
Mathematical Physics
Quantum Physics
We show that the continuum limit of moiré graphene is described by a $(2+1)$-dimensional field theory of Dirac fermions coupled to two classical vector fields: a periodic gauge and spin field. We further show that the existence of a flat band implies an effective dimensional reduction, where the time dimension is ``removed.'' The resulting two-dimensional Euclidean theory contains the chiral anomaly. The associated Atiyah-Singer index theorem provides a self-consistency condition for flat bands. In the Abelian limit, where the spin field is disregarded, we reproduce a periodic series of quantized magic angles known to exist in twisted bilayer graphene in the chiral limit. However, the results are not exact. If the Abelian field has zero total flux, perfectly flat bands can not exist, because of the leakage of edge states into neighboring triangular patches with opposite field orientations. We demonstrate that the non-Abelian spin component can correct this and completely flatten the bands via an effective renormalization of the Abelian component into a configuration with a non-zero total flux. We present the Abelianization of the theory where the Abelianized flat band can be mapped to that of the lowest Landau level. We show that the Abelianization corrects the values of the magic angles consistent with numerical results. We also use this criterion to prove that an external magnetic field splits the series into pairs of magnetic field-dependent magic angles associated with flat moiré-Landau bands. The topological criterion and the Abelianization procedure provide a generic practical method for finding flat bands in a variety of material systems including but not limited to moiré bilayers.
title A Generic Topological Criterion for Flat Bands in Two Dimensions
topic Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Strongly Correlated Electrons
High Energy Physics - Theory
Mathematical Physics
Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.00824