Microscopic Ginzburg–Landau theory and singlet ordering in Sr2RuO4
Physical Review B American Physical Society 104:13 (2021) 134506
Abstract:
The long-standing quest to determine the superconducting order of Sr2RuO4 (SRO) has received renewed attention after recent nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) Knight shift experiments have cast doubt on the possibility of spin-triplet pairing in the superconducting state. As a putative solution, encompassing a body of experiments conducted over the years, a (d + ig)-wave order parameter caused by an accidental near-degeneracy has been suggested [S. A. Kivelson et al., npj Quantum Materials 5, 43 (2020)]. Here we develop a general Ginzburg–Landau theory for multiband superconductors. We apply the theory to SRO and predict the relative size of the order parameter components. The heat capacity jump expected at the onset of the second order parameter component is found to be above the current threshold deduced by the experimental absence of a second jump. Our results tightly restrict theories of d + ig order, and other candidates caused by a near-degeneracy, in SRO. We discuss possible solutions to the problem.Domain wall competition in the Chern insulating regime of twisted bilayer graphene
Physical Review B: Condensed Matter and Materials Physics American Physical Society 104 (2021) 115404
Abstract:
We consider magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) at filling $\nu=+3$, where experiments have observed a robust quantized anomalous Hall effect. This has been attributed to the formation of a valley- and spin-polarized Chern insulating ground state that spontaneously breaks time-reversal symmetry, and is stabilized by a hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) substrate. We identify three different types of domain wall, and study their properties and energetic selection mechanisms via theoretical arguments and Hartree-Fock calculations adapted to deal with inhomogeneous moir\'e systems. We comment on the implications of these results for transport and scanning probe experiments.Exciton band topology in spontaneous quantum anomalous Hall insulators: applications to twisted bilayer graphene
Physical Review Letters American Physical Society 126:13 (2021) 137601
Abstract:
We uncover topological features of neutral particle-hole pair excitations of correlated quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) insulators whose approximately flat conduction and valence bands have equal and opposite nonzero Chern number. Using an exactly solvable model we show that the underlying band topology affects both the center-of-mass and relative motion of particle-hole bound states. This leads to the formation of topological exciton bands whose features are robust to nonuniformity of both the dispersion and the Berry curvature. We apply these ideas to recently reported broken-symmetry spontaneous QAH insulators in substrate aligned magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene.Contrasting lattice geometry dependent versus independent quantities: Ramifications for Berry curvature, energy gaps, and dynamics
Physical Review B: Condensed Matter and Materials Physics American Physical Society 102 (2020) 165148
Abstract:
In the tight-binding description of electronic, photonic, or cold atomic dynamics in a periodic lattice potential, particle motion is described in terms of hopping amplitudes and potentials on an abstract network of discrete sites corresponding to physical orbitals in the lattice. The physical attributes of the orbitals, including their locations in three-dimensional space, are independent pieces of information. In this paper we identify a notion of geometry-independence: any physical quantity or observable that depends only on the tight-binding parameters (and not on the explicit information about the orbital geometry) is said to be “geometry-independent.” The band structure itself, and for example the Chern numbers of the bands in a two-dimensional system, are geometryindependent, while the Bloch-band Berry curvature is geometry-dependent. Careful identification of geometry-dependent versus independent quantities can be used as a novel principle for constraining a variety of results. By extending the notion of geometry-independence to certain classes of interacting systems, where the many-body energy gap is evidently geometry-independent, we shed new light on a hypothesized relation between many-body energy gaps of fractional Chern insulators and the uniformity of Bloch band Berry curvature in the Brillouin zone. We furthermore explore the geometry-dependence of semiclassical wave packet dynamics, and use this principle to show how two different types of Hall response measurements may give markedly different results due to the fact that one is geometry-dependent, while the other is geometry-independent. Similar considerations apply for anomalous thermal Hall response, in both electronic and spin systems.From anyons to Majoranas
Nature Reviews Physics Springer Nature 2:12 (2020) 667-668