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Eslam Khalaf

Publications and source records attributed to Eslam Khalaf.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Exact Stiffness and Dynamical Responses from Fock-Space Fragmentation

Exactly solvable quantum many-body models are rare, and even when their spectra are algebraically organized, dynamical responses generally remain difficult to obtain because they probe an extensive number of excited states. Here we show that quantum geometric nesting (QGN) models admit an unusually strong form of solvability rooted in \emph{Fock-space fragmentation}: excitations on top of the exact frustration-free ground states decouple into Krylov subspaces with a fixed number of particle and hole operators, and hence remain dynamically invariant. Exploiting this structure, we prove that the stiffness of the spontaneously broken continuous symmetry in QGN models is exactly equal to its variational value in the Gaussian manifold, confirming a conjecture from quantum many-body bootstrap~\cite{GaoHanKhalaf2026}. The proof shows that an infinitesimal phase twist couples the ground state only to the one-particle, one-hole fragment, which coincides with the tangent space of the ground state within the variational manifold, thereby making the variational curvature exact. More generally, perturbations whose action remains within a fixed Fock-space fragment have response functions determined exactly by the corresponding few-body sector, enabling exact access to quantities including static susceptibility, optical conductivity, dynamical structure factors, and single-particle Green's functions.

cond-mat.str-el

A quantum geometric mechanism for chiral domain wall metastability: Application to twisted transition-metal dichalcogenides

Band topology can have an imprint on the excitations of a ferromagnet. A known example is quantum Hall ferromagnets and their lattice analogs; when both flavors have the same Chern number $C$, a smooth skyrmion texture binds charge $-eC$ per unit winding. Here, we consider instead the case of conjugate Chern bands related by time-reversal. We show that, despite the vanishing net charge response, a smooth texture can be associated with a dipole response---a domain wall (DW) with an in-plane winding along its length can bind a nonzero dipole density transverse to the wall. The strength of this dipole density is controlled by a dimensionless coefficient $c_G$. Although not quantized, the geometric dipole coefficient $c_G$ is a moment of the second Chern form of the occupied projector in mixed (momentum and order-parameter) space and is generally nonzero. The dipole-decorated DW can thus become metastable at a finite radius due to the competition between dipolar repulsion and the usual surface tension, even at a finite Zeeman field. In a realistic model of twisted MoTe$_2$, we find that $c_G$ drops sharply across a transition within the valley-polarized (VP) phase from a $C=1$ to a $C=0$ ferromagnet. This naturally explains recent pump-probe experiments~\cite{exp} at hole filling $\nu=1$, in which a long-lived excitation survives reverse fields far exceeding the saturation field but disappears at an intermediate displacement field despite only weak changes in conventional magnetic diagnostics. Metastable spin textures thus serve as a sensitive probe of band quantum geometry, and as an intrinsic bottleneck for fast optical control of moir\'e ferromagnets in Chern-conjugate bands.

cond-mat.str-el

Observation of metastable chiral domain walls in a topological magnet

The interplay between topology and correlation can give rise to exotic collective excitations. The integer and fractional quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) magnets recently discovered in two-dimensional (2D) flatband systems are predicted to host spin excitations distinct from those in conventional magnets. Experimentally, nevertheless, these new excitations remain largely unexplored. Here we investigate spin-valley excitations in a twisted MoTe2 moir\'e superlattice using resonant ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy. We observe a metastable spin-valley excitation in the QAH magnet below T ~ 3.7 K that survives reverse magnetic field several times larger than the saturation field. The behavior of this excitation is sharply distinct from ordinary domain walls and magnons, indicating a new type of spin-valley textures unique to topological magnets. We propose that these textures are chiral domain walls with an in-plane winding of the pseudospin order parameter along the domain wall. Their metastability arises from the interplay between the topological winding in real space and the quantum geometry of the parent bands in momentum space through a universal mechanism. These chiral domain walls govern the nonequilibrium dynamics of QAH magnets and may play a central role in their stability. Our study highlights intrinsic quantum geometry effects on spin excitations in topological magnets; and provides key insights into the fundamental mechanism limiting stability of topological protection.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Single-component twisted $\mathbb{Z}_3$ orthogonal metal in an $e/3$-anyon fluid

We propose an unconventional metallic phase emerging upon doping the $1/3$ Laughlin Fractional Chern insulator, which can serve as a parent state to anyon superconductivity with arbitrary chiral central charge. It is a twisted $\mathbb{Z}_3$ orthogonal metal: a state with vanishing electron quasiparticle weight but a single well-defined Fermi surface of emergent charge-$e/3$ fermions coupled to a Dijkgraaf-Witten twisted $\mathbb{Z}_3$ gauge field. It is manifestly symmetric under the projective action of translations on the three low-energy valleys and is fully gapped in the valley sector. Pairing this fractionalized Fermi surface then removes the topological order and produces a family of superconductors whose chiral central charge is directly set by the BdG band topology of the paired $e/3$ fermions, while the angular momentum of the physical order parameter is constrained to be a multiple of three. This scenario provides a route to superconducting states beyond anyon-superconductivity constructions based on $2e/3$ anyons. The metallic phase itself carries distinctive ``fractional Fermiology'' signatures: $e/3$ shot noise, anomalous quantum oscillations, and a $6\pi$ ac Josephson effect when it mediates the Josephson coupling between superconductors. We construct explicit wavefunction ansatz realizing the phase, and discuss energetics considerations that might favor this state over competing metallic states. We show that the construction extends to higher Laughlin states but not to Jain states.

cond-mat.str-el

Bootstrap bounds for Quantum Spin Systems using String Operators

Bootstrap is a numerical many-body method that provides rigorous bounds on ground-state observables by imposing a set of necessary constraints on the expectation values of operators. The quality of the resulting bounds is sensitive to the choice of operators entering the constraints. In particular, bounds on ground-state correlations are often loose in spontaneous symmetry-breaking (SSB) phases, since local operator sets cannot exclude domain-wall excitations. In this work, we introduce non-local, string-like operators into the bootstrap and show that the program can be formulated directly in thermodynamic limit. We then apply our construction to several 1D spin models. First, we obtain a significant tightening of the bounds in the SSB phase of the 1D transverse-field Ising model. Using the 1D axial next-nearest-neighbor Ising model, we further show that this tightening allows for a quantitative estimate of the locations of phase boundaries. Finally, we generalize the string operators to the 1D $\mathbb{Z}_3$ chiral clock model and track the behavior of the bounds across the phase diagram. Our results broaden the class of constraints available to the bootstrap and open a route toward bootstrapping more general symmetry-broken and topological phases, where the relevant constraints may involve non-local or extended operators.

cond-mat.str-el

Controlled expansion for correlated electrons with concentrated kinematics

We introduce a systematic expansion tailored to systems with strong local interactions and capable of computing response functions, including finite DC transport, analytically. The expansion is controlled by a small parameter $s^2$ that measures the area of the momentum space region where kinematics of the theory is concentrated. In real space, this corresponds to single-particle or correlated hopping terms with amplitudes that decay over a length scale $1/s$ and scale in magnitude as $s^2$ in two dimensions. In the limit $s^2\ll 1$, long, self-avoiding tunneling paths dominate over paths revisiting the same site. This enables systematic controlled calculations of various physical quantities. We illustrate the method with three applications. (i) A Hubbard model with concentrated dispersion: we analytically obtain spectral broadening which scales as $s^2$ and identify a high-temperature bad metal with $T$-linear resistivity coexisting with parametrically long-lived quasiparticles, as well as an intermediate-temperature "thermal FL*" with a small hole pocket that coexists with thermally disordered fluctuating local moments, all within a single controlled framework. (ii) A correlated-hopping model with interesting electron-trion dynamics. (iii) A model of Chern bands with concentrated Berry curvature, motivated by twisted bilayer graphene, which realizes a Mott semimetal where we compute the broadening for the electron and trion spectral functions. At the end, we discuss how our approach paves the way to addressing various challenging questions in strongly correlated systems and outline its various generalizations.

cond-mat.str-el

Microsopic Theory of Spin Polarons in Chern Ferromagnets

We develop a microscopic theory of charged excitations in an SU(2) Chern ferromagnet and obtain closed-form wavefunctions for a hierarchy of charge-$e$ spin polaron states binding an arbitrary number of spin flips. In an ideal Chern-$1$ band with a normal-ordered contact interaction, we show that these polarons are exact eigenstates of the Hamiltonian with the same energy as single-hole excitations. Away from this ideal limit, we promote these states to a variational family by introducing a single size parameter and a geometry-informed single-particle dressing. Our momentum-space wavefunctions admit two equivalent representations: a ratio of Jastrow factors of Weierstrass functions of relative momenta or an antisymmetrized geminal product of particle-hole wavefunctions. The latter enables efficient evaluation of overlaps and expectation values for large system sizes and many spin flips. Benchmarking in the lowest Landau level, the single-spin-flip ansatz achieves $\gtrsim 99\%$ overlap with exact diagonalization and accurately captures binding energies, while the multi-spin-flip energies interpolate smoothly toward the large-texture (skyrmion) regime. For Chern bands with tunable quantum geometry, we find that interaction-generated single particle dispersion quickly destabilizes the spin polarons once quantum geometry becomes sufficiently non-uniform. When such dispersion is suppressed, however, the bound states persist deeper into the non-uniform regime, with the binding energy slowly decreasing and the bound state becoming larger as the quantum geometry becomes more concentrated. Our results provide a microscopic foundation for analyzing doped Chern ferromagnets in moir\'e platforms and lay the groundwork for variational wavefunctions of multi-polaron excitations and phases.

cond-mat.str-el

Bound states of anyons: a geometric quantization approach

The question of anyon interactions and their possible binding plays a key role in the physics of fractional quantum Hall states. Here, we introduce a controlled and scalable approach to study anyon binding by working entirely within the Hilbert space of anyons. The resulting theory is characterized by an effective potential, which captures the electrostatic energy of classical anyon configurations, and a K\"ahler potential, which simultaneously encodes the anyon Berry phase and the structure of their Hilbert space; both quantities are readily computed using Monte Carlo methods for large systems, enabling reliable extrapolation to the thermodynamic limit. By applying the formalism of geometric quantization on K\"ahler manifolds, we construct the anyon Hamiltonian, which can be exactly diagonalized in the few-anyon Hilbert space. Applying our approach to the quasiholes of the $\nu=1/3$ Laughlin state with screened Coulomb interaction, we find that Laughlin quasiholes form bound states for screening lengths comparable or smaller than the magnetic length. Remarkably, binding occurs despite both the bare electron-electron interaction and the quasihole electrostatic potential being purely repulsive. The bound-state formation is a Berry phase effect, driven by oscillations in the quasihole density profile on the $\ell_B$ scale that are invisible in the quasihole electrostatic potential alone. For multiple quasiholes, we identify a sequence of phases as the screening length is reduced: free $e/3$ anyons, paired $2e/3$ bound states, three-anyon charge-$e$ clusters, and larger composite objects. Finally, we discuss possible signatures in charge imaging experiments on quantum Hall systems and the relevance to the phase diagram of itinerant anyon phases in fractional quantum anomalous Hall materials.

cond-mat.str-el

Anyon Dispersion in Aharonov-Casher Bands and Implications for Twisted MoTe${}_2$

The discovery of fractional quantum anomalous Hall (FQAH) states in two-dimensional heterostructures has opened the door to realizing phases of dispersing anyons. Here, we develop an analytically controlled theory of anyon dispersion in FQAH states realized in ideal or Aharonov-Casher (AC) bands by projecting interactions onto the space of Laughlin quasiholes. Constructing quasihole momentum eigenstates allows efficient evaluation of the single quasihole dispersion using Monte Carlo. We find that the quasihole bandwidth grows with increasing quantum-geometry inhomogeneity of the AC band and with increasing interaction screening length. For realistic parameters relevant to the bands of twisted MoTe${}_2$, the quasihole bandwidth is of order 1 meV and increases with increasing displacement field, suggesting that itinerant-anyon physics may play an important role in sufficiently clean samples. Furthermore, we develop a microscopic Lagrangian framework in terms of a quasihole guiding-center coordinate, which reproduces the momentum-space formula for the dispersion. This approach reveals that quasihole dispersion originates from the combined effects of an interaction-generated periodic potential, arising from non-uniform quantum geometry of the single particle bands, and the quasihole many-body Berry phase arising from the background magnetic field. The latter endows the guiding-center coordinate with a noncommutative structure, converting the periodic potential into a finite dispersion. Finally, we outline how this framework generalizes to multiple quasiholes, enabling a microscopic theory of charged excitations in FQAH systems that retains only the anyon degrees of freedom.

cond-mat.str-el

Defect Bootstrap: Tight Ground State Bounds in Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking Phases

The recent development of bootstrap methods based on semidefinite relaxations of positivity constraints has enabled rigorous two-sided bounds on local observables directly in the thermodynamic limit. However, these bounds inevitably become loose in symmetry broken phases, where local constraints are insufficient to capture long-range order. In this work, we identify the origin of this looseness as order parameter defects which are difficult to remove using local operators. We introduce a $\textit{defect bootstrap}$ framework that resolves this limitation by embedding the system into an auxiliary $\textit{defect model}$ equipped with ancilla degrees of freedom. This construction effectively enables local operators to remove order parameter defects, yielding tighter bounds in phases with spontaneous symmetry breaking. This approach can be applied broadly to pairwise-interacting local lattice models with discrete or continuous internal symmetries that satisfy a property we call $\textit{defect diamagnetism}$, which requires that the ground state energy does not decrease upon adding any finite number of symmetry defects. Applying the method to the transverse field Ising models in 1D and 2D, we obtain significantly improved bounds on energy densities and spin correlation functions throughout the symmetry broken phase in 1D and deep within the phase in 2D. Our results demonstrate that physically motivated constraint sets can dramatically enhance the power of bootstrap methods for quantum many-body systems.

cond-mat.str-el

Exact models of chiral flat-band superconductors

Recent experiments have reported the surprising observation of superconductivity in flavor polarized, nearly flat bands (FBs) of rhombohedral graphene. Motivated by these findings, we introduce a class of models for single-flavor FBs with inversion symmetry, where we show a local attractive interaction between orbitals with opposite parities leads to an exact superconducting ground state. We argue that this model can be relevant to realistic multi-flavor systems including short-range repulsion, since the main effect of such repulsion is to induce flavor polarization leaving possibly attractive residual interaction between different flavorless orbitals. The nature of the pairing is determined by the interplay between the FB quantum geometry and the interaction, and is often topological when the parent FB is so. Interestingly, each such model has two nearly degenerate pairing modes, whose energetic competition can be tuned by a change in the charge transfer gap between the two orbitals or electron density. These modes have the same angular momentum but different pairing amplitude structure and possibly different topology. We show that the superfluid stiffness is proportional to the attractive interaction scale using a combination of analytical variational upper bounds and numerical bootstrap lower bounds. We find empirically that the maximum superfluid stiffness is achieved when the hot spots of quantum geometry in the Brillouin zone are marginally filled.

cond-mat.str-el

Bootstrapping Flat-band Superconductors: Rigorous Lower Bounds on Superfluid Stiffness

The superfluid stiffness fundamentally constrains the transition temperature of superconductors, especially in the strongly coupled regime. However, accurately determining this inherently quantum many-body property in microscopic models remains a significant challenge. In this work, we show how the \textit{quantum many-body bootstrap} framework, specifically the reduced density matrix (RDM) bootstrap, can be leveraged to obtain rigorous lower bounds on the superfluid stiffness in frustration-free interacting models with superconducting ground state. We numerically apply the method to a special class of frustration free models, which are known as quantum geometric nesting models, for flat-band superconductivity, where we uncover a general relation between the stiffness and the pair mass. Going beyond the familiar Hubbard case within this class, we find how additional interactions, notably simple magnetic couplings, can enhance the superfluid stiffness. Furthermore, we find that the RDM bootstrap unexpectedly reveals that the trion-type correlations are essential for bounding the stiffness, offering new insights on the structure of these models. A straightforward generalization of the method can lead to bounds on susceptibilities complementary to variational approaches. Our findings underscore the immense potential of the quantum many-body bootstrap as a powerful tool to derive rigorous bounds on physical quantities beyond energy.

cond-mat.str-el

Anyon dispersion from non-uniform magnetic field on the sphere

The discovery of fractional quantum anomalous Hall states in moir\'e systems has raised the interesting possibility of realizing phases of itenerant anyons. Anyon dispersion is only possible in the absence of continuous magnetic translation symmetry (CMTS). Motivated by this, we consider anyons on the sphere in the presence of a non-uniform magnetic field which breaks the ${\rm SU}(2)$ rotation symmetry, the analog of CMTS on the sphere, down to a ${\rm U}(1)$. This allows us to study the energy dispersion of the anyons as a function of $L_z$ angular-momentum, while maintaining the perfect flatness of single-particle dispersion. We parametrize the non-uniform field by a real parameter $R$ which concentrates the field at the north (south) pole for $R>1$ ($R < 1$), and show that, for our choice of field, any $p$-body correlation function evaluated in the space of Laughlin quasiholes can be mapped \emph{exactly} to a corresponding $p$-body correlation function in uniform field. In the thermodynamic limit, this enables us to analytically compute the interaction-generated spatially varying potential felt by the anyons. Remarkably, such spatially varying potential is sufficient to generate dispersion for the anyons, which we compute exactly, up to an overall scaling constant. The anyon dispersion in our model describes azimuthal motion around the sphere at a constant height, similar to spin precession. Our work therefore serves as a concrete demonstration that interaction alone can generate nonzero anyon dispersion in the presence of inhomogeneous magnetic field.

cond-mat.str-el

Anyon superconductivity and plateau transitions in doped fractional quantum anomalous Hall insulators

Recent experiments reported evidence of superconductivity and re-entrant integer quantum anomalous Hall (RIQAH) insulator upon doping the $\nu_e = 2/3$ fractional quantum anomalous Hall states (FQAH) in twisted MoTe${}_2$, separated by narrow resistive regions. Anyons of a FQAH generally have a finite effective mass, and when described by anyon-flux composite fermions (CF), experience statistical magnetic fields with a commensurate filling. Here, we show that most of the experimental observations can be explained by invoking the effects of disorder on the Landau-Hofstadter bands of CFs. In particular, by making minimal assumptions about the anyon energetics and dispersion, we show that doping anyons drives plateau transitions of CFs into integer quantum Hall states, which physically corresponds to either to a superconductor or to a RIQAH phase. We develop a dictionary that allows us to infer the response in these phases and the critical regions from the knowledge of the response functions of the plateau transitions. In particular, this allows us to relate the superfluid stiffness of the superconductor to the polarizability of CFs. As a first step towards a quantitative understanding, we borrow results from the celebrated integer quantum Hall plateau transitions to make quantitative prediction for the critical behavior of the superfluid stiffness, longitudinal and Hall conductivity, and response to out-of-plane magnetic field, all of which agree reasonably well with the experimental observations. Our results provide strong support for anyon superconductivity being the mechanism for the observed superconductor in the vicinity of the $\nu_e = 2/3$ FQAH insulator.

cond-mat.str-el

Exotic Carriers from Concentrated Topology: Dirac Trions as the Origin of the Missing Spectral Weight in Twisted Bilayer Graphene

The nature of charge carriers in twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) near $\nu = -2$, where superconductivity emerges, remains mysterious. While various symmetry-broken ground states have been proposed, experimental evidence of significant entropy persisting to low temperatures suggests that the disordered thermal state is a more natural starting point for understanding the normal state physics. Our previous work proposed that this thermal state in TBG hosts nearly decoupled nonlocal moments and an exotic Mott semimetal at charge neutrality. This evolves into a spectrally imbalanced Mott state at non-zero integer fillings. Notably, at $\nu = -2$, the quasiparticle residue vanishes at the top of the valence band, precisely where superconductivity develops. The vanishing quasiparticle residue naturally leads to the following question: Which excitation accounts for the missing spectral weight, and how are they related to electrons? In this work, we demonstrate that the missing spectral weight corresponds to a trion excitation, which we explicitly construct and characterize. Remarkably, despite being composed of heavy particles away from the Gamma point, this trion is unexpectedly light. At charge neutrality, the electron and trion hybridize with a momentum-dependent phase that winds around zero, forming a massless Dirac cone. At finite doping $\nu < 0$, the Dirac cone acquires a mass with the valence (conduction) band becoming trion (electron)-like near the $\Gamma$ point. Finally, we show that such trion excitations evolve into the quasiparticles of the intervalley Kekul\'e spiral (IKS) state at finite doping, where they represent electrons dressed by the IKS order parameter. More broadly, our work highlights the unusual spectral properties and excitations that emerge when fermions interact within topological bands with concentrated quantum geometry and topology.

cond-mat.str-el

Angular Interplay of Nematicity, Superconductivity, and Strange Metallicity in a Moir\'e Flat Band

Superconductivity in strongly correlated electron systems frequently exhibits broken rotational symmetry, raising fundamental questions about the underlying order parameter symmetry. In this work, we demonstrate that electronic nematicity--driven by Coulomb-mediated rotational symmetry breaking--serves as a crucial link to understanding the nature of superconductivity. Utilizing a novel framework of angle-resolved measurement, we reveal an interring angular interplay among nematicity, superconductivity, and strange metallicity in magic-angle twisted trilayer graphene. By establishing a direct correlation between the preferred superconducting transport direction and the principal axis of the metallic phase, our findings place strong constrains on the symmetry of the superconducting order parameter. This work introduces a new paradigm for probing the microscopic mechanisms governing superconductivity in strongly interacting two-dimensional systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Theory of magnetoroton bands in moir\'e materials

The recent realization of Hofstadter spectra and fractional Chern insulators in moir\'e materials has introduced a new ingredient, a periodic lattice potential, to the study of quantum Hall phases. While the fractionalized states in moir\'e systems are expected to be in the same universality class as their counterparts in Landau levels, the periodic potential can have qualitative and quantitative effects on physical observables. Here, we examine how the magnetoroton collective modes of fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states are altered by external periodic potentials. Employing a single-mode-approximation, we derive an effective Hamiltonian for the low-energy neutral excitations expressed in terms of three-point density correlation functions, which are computed using Monte Carlo. Our analysis is applicable to FQH states in graphene with a hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) substrate and also to fractional Chern insulator (FCI) states in twisted MoTe$_2$ bilayers. We predict experimentally testable trends in the THz absorption characteristics of FCI and FQH states and estimate the external potential strength at which a soft-mode phase transition occurs between FQH and charge density wave states.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Robust Super-Moir\'e in Large Angle Single-Twist Bilayers

Forming long wavelength moir\'e superlattices (MSL) at small-angle twist van der Waals (vdW) bilayers has been a key approach to creating moir\'e flat bands. The small-angle twist, however, leads to strong lattice reconstruction, causing domain walls and moir\'e disorders, which pose considerable challenges in engineering such platforms. At large twist angles, the rigid lattices render a more robust, but shorter wavelength MSL, making it difficult to engineer flat bands. Here, we depict a novel approach to tailoring robust super-moir\'e (SM) structures that combines the advantages of both small-twist and large-twist transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) bilayers using only a single twist angle near a commensurate angle. Structurally, we unveil the spontaneous formation of a periodic arrangement of three inequivalent commensurate moir\'e (CM) stacking, where the angle deviation from the commensurate angle can tune the periodicity. Electronically, we reveal a large set of van Hove singularities (VHSs) that indicate strong band hybridization, leading to flat bands near the valence band maximum. Our study paves the way for a new platform of robust SM bilayers with structural rigidity and controllable wavelength, extending the investigation of the interplay among band topology, quantum geometry, and moir\'e superconductivity to the large twist angle regime.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci