arXiv subjects

Haoyu Hu

Publications and source records attributed to Haoyu Hu.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2025

Heavy fermions, mass renormalization and local moments in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene via planar tunneling spectroscopy

Topological heavy fermion models[1-5] describe the flat bands in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene (MATBG) as arising from the hybridization between localized flat-band orbitals (f-electrons) and nearly-free conduction bands (c-electrons). The interplay between these f-electrons and c-electrons is theorized to give rise to emergent phenomena, including unconventional superconductivity[6-8], non-Fermi liquid behavior[9-11], and topologically nontrivial phases[12-14]. However, the fundamental properties of f- and c-electrons, such as their respective heavy and light effective mass and their properties under strain, need experimental verification. Here we report on the electronic inverse compressibility, effective mass, and entropy of MATBG, obtained from planar tunneling spectroscopy. Our results include the observation of electron mass renormalization, found to be consistent with the topological heavy fermion model prediction of heavy charge-one excitations away from integer fillings. Importantly, we present entropic evidence for 4-fold and 8-fold degenerate isospin local moment states emerging at temperatures of 10K and 20K, respectively, consistent with the entropy of 8 heavy-fermions flavors energetically split by the sample strain.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Quantum critical metals and loss of quasiparticles

Strange metals develop near quantum critical points in a variety of strongly correlated systems. Some of the issues that are central to the field include how the quantum-critical state loses quasiparticles, how it drives superconductivity, and to what extent the strange-metal physics in different classes of correlated systems are interconnected. In this Review, we survey some of these issues from the vantage point of heavy fermion metals. We will describe the notion of Kondo destruction and how it leads to several crucial effects. These include a transformation of the Fermi surface from large to small when the system is tuned across the quantum-critical point, a loss of quasiparticles everywhere on the Fermi surface when it is perched at the quantum-critical point, and a dynamical Planckian scaling in various physical properties including charge responses. We close with a discussion about the connections between the strange-metal physics in heavy fermion metals and its counterparts in the cuprates and other correlated materials.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Metallic quantum criticality enabled by flat bands in a kagome lattice

Strange metals arise in a variety of platforms for strongly correlated electrons, ranging from the cuprates, heavy fermions to flat band systems. Motivated by recent experiments in kagome metals, we study a Hubbard model on a kagome lattice whose noninteracting limit contains flat bands. A Kondo lattice description is constructed, in which the correlation effects are captured by symmetry preserving and exponentially localized molecular orbitals. These compact molecular orbitals represent the local degrees of freedom that emerge from topological flat bands. We identify a quantum critical point at which quasiparticles are lost and strange metallicity emerges. Our theoretical work opens up a new route for realizing beyond-Landau quantum criticality, as well as the associated strange metallicity and emergent quantum phases.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Amplified multipartite entanglement witnessed in a quantum critical metal

Strong correlations in matter promote a landscape of quantum phases and associated quantum critical points. For metallic systems, there is increasing recognition that the quantum criticality goes beyond the Landau framework and, thus, novel means are needed to characterize the quantum critical fluid. Here we do so by studying an entanglement quantity, the quantum Fisher information, in a strange metal system, focusing on the exemplary case of an Anderson/Kondo lattice model near its Kondo destruction quantum critical point. The spin quantum Fisher information peaks at the quantum critical point and indicates a strongly entangled ground state. Our results are supported by the quantum Fisher information extracted from inelastic neutron scattering measurements in heavy fermion metals. Our work elucidates the loss of quasiparticles in strange metals, opens a quantum information avenue to advance the understanding of metallic quantum criticality in a broad range of strongly correlated systems, and points to a novel regime of quantum matter to realize amplified entanglement.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Heavy Fermions as an Efficient Representation of Atomistic Strain and Relaxation in Twisted Bilayer Graphene

Although the strongly interacting flat bands in twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) have been approached using the minimal Bistritzer-MacDonald (BM) Hamiltonian, there is mounting evidence that strain and lattice relaxation are essential in correctly determining the order of the correlated insulator groundstates. These effects can be incorporated in an enhanced continuum model by introducing additional terms computed from the relaxation profile. To develop an analytical and physical understanding of these effects, we include strain and relaxation in the topological heavy fermion (HF) model of TBG. We find that strain and relaxation are very well captured in first order perturbation theory by projection onto the fully symmetric HF Hilbert space, and remarkably do not alter the interacting terms in the periodic Anderson model. Their effects are fully incorporated in the single-particle HF Hamiltonian, and can be reproduced in a minimal model with only 4 symmetry-breaking terms. Our results demonstrate that the heavy fermion framework of TBG is an efficient and robust representation of the perturbations encountered in experiment.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Kekulé Spiral Order from Strained Topological Heavy Fermions

The topological heavy fermion (THF) model of twisted bilayer graphene is a framework for treating its strongly interacting topological flat bands. In this work, we employ the THF model with heterostrain and particle-hole symmetry breaking corrections to study its symmetry-broken ground states. We find that the heterostrain correction motivates a specific parent-state wavefunction which dictates the presence or absence of an incommensurate Kekulé spiral (IKS) at each integer filling by invoking Dirac node braiding and annihilation as a mechanism to achieve low energy gapped states. We then show that one-shot Hartree-Fock faithfully replicates the numerical results of fully self-consistent states and motivates an analytical approximation for the IKS wavevector. We can also account for the particle-hole asymmetry in the correlated insulator gaps. In particular, the THF model predicts stronger correlated states on the electron side rather than hole side in agreement with magic angle experiments, despite the electron side being more dispersive in the single-particle band structure. This work demonstrates that we can analytically explain even the more subtle symmetry breaking order properties observed in experiments where heterostrain, relaxation, and interactions together determine the ground state.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Estimates for Betti numbers and relative Hermite-Minkowski theorem for perverse sheaves

We prove estimates for the Betti numbers of constructible sheaves in characteristic p>0 depending only on their rank, stratification and wild ramification. In particular, given a smooth proper variety of dimension n over an algebraically closed field and a divisor D of X, for every $0\leq i \leq n$, there is a polynomial $P_i$ of degree $\max \{i,2n-i\}$ such that the i-th Betti number of any rank r local system L on X-D is smaller than $P_i(lc_D(L))\cdot r$ where $lc_D(L)$ is the highest logarithmic conductor of L at the generic points of D. As application, we show that the Betti numbers of the inverse and higher direct images of a local system are controlled by the rank and the highest logarithmic conductor. We also reprove Deligne's finiteness for simple $\ell$-adic local systems with bounded rank and ramification on a smooth variety over a finite field and extend it in two different directions. In particular, perverse sheaves over arbitrary singular schemes are allowed and the bounds we obtain are uniform in algebraic families and do not depend on $\ell$.

math.AG↗

arXiv2025

Probing the Quantized Berry Phases in 1H-NbSe$_2$ Using Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

Topologically trivial insulators are classified into two primary categories: unobstructed and obstructed atomic insulators. While both types can be described by exponentially localized Wannier orbitals, a defining feature of obstructed atomic insulators is that the centers of charge of these orbitals are positioned at empty sites within the unit cell, rather than on atoms. Despite extensive theoretical predictions, the unambiguous and quantitative experimental identification of an obstructed atomic phase has remained elusive. In this work, we present the first direct experimental evidence of such a phase in 1H-NbSe$_2$. We develop a novel method to extract the inter-orbital correlation functions from the local spectral function probed by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), leveraging the orbital wave functions obtained from ab initio calculations. Applying this technique to STM images, we determine the inter-orbital correlation functions for the atomic band of 1H-NbSe$_2$ that crosses the Fermi level. Our results show that this band realizes an optimally compact obstructed atomic phase, providing the first unambiguous experimental identification of such a phase. Our approach of deconvolving the STM signal using ab initio orbital wave functions is broadly applicable to other material platforms, offering a powerful tool for exploring other electronic phases.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

A New Moiré Platform Based on M-Point Twisting

We introduce a new class of moiré systems and materials based on monolayers with triangular lattices and low-energy states at the M points of the Brillouin zone. These M-point moiré materials are fundamentally distinct from those derived from $Γ$- or K-point monolayers, featuring three time-reversal-preserving valleys related by three-fold rotational symmetry. We propose twisted bilayers of experimentally exfoliable 1T-SnSe$_2$ and 1T-ZrS$_2$ as realizations of this new class. Using extensive ab initio simulations, we develop quantitative continuum models and analytically show that the corresponding M-point moiré Hamiltonians exhibit emergent momentum-space non-symmorphic symmetries and a kagome plane-wave lattice in momentum space. This represents the first experimentally viable realization of a projective representation of crystalline space groups in a non-magnetic system. With interactions, these materials represent six-flavor Hubbard simulators with Mott physics, as can be seen by their flat Wilson loops. Furthermore, the presence of a non-symmorphic momentum-space in-plane mirror symmetry makes some of the M-point moiré Hamiltonians quasi-one-dimensional in each valley, suggesting the possibility of realizing Luttinger liquid physics. We predict the twist angles at which a series of (conduction) flat bands appear, provide a faithful continuum Hamiltonian, analyze its topology and charge density and briefly discuss several aspects of the physics of this new platform.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Competing phases in kagome magnet FeGe from functional renormalization

The discovery of a charge density wave in FeGe extends the discussion of the nature of charge order in kagome metals to a magnetic compound. Motivated by this observation, we combine density functional theory (DFT) and functional-renormalization-group calculations to study interaction-induced Fermi-surface instabilities of the magnetic state of FeGe. We argue that the leading intra-band contribution to electronic correlations are approximately 2D and come from Van Hove points at the projected $M$~points. By varying parameters around DFT values, we determine a phase diagram for the quasi-2D scenario as function of on-site and nearest-neighbor interactions. We discuss universal aspects in the electronic mechanisms for the resulting phases, as well as the role of SU(2) symmetry breaking. We find FeGe to be in a regime of strong competition between $p$-wave charge density wave, $f$-wave pairing, and $d$-wave spin Pomeranchuk instabilities. This interplay can be influenced in favor of superconducting pairing for slightly increased nearest-neighbor interaction, suggesting a potential to induce superconductivity in FeGe.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Topological Heavy Fermion Principle For Flat (Narrow) Bands With Concentrated Quantum Geometry

We propose a general principle for the low-energy theory of narrow bands with concentrated Berry curvature and Fubini-Study metric in the form of a map to Anderson-"+" models composed of heavy fermions hybridizing and interacting with semi-metallic modes. This map resolves the obstruction preventing topological bands from being realized in a local Hamiltonian acting on the low-energy degrees of freedom. The concentrated quantum geometry is reproduced through band inversion with a dispersive semi-metal, leaving a nearly flat, trivial band which becomes the heavy fermion. This representation is natural when the narrow band is not energetically isolated on the scale of the interaction and an enlarged Hilbert space is inescapable, but also provides analytical insight into the projected-interaction limit. First exemplified in twisted bilayer graphene (TBG), we extend it to (1) the twisted checkerboard, which we find has a chiral symmetric stable anomaly that forbids a lattice realization at all energies, and (2) the Lieb lattice with gapless flat bands, where we show the heavy fermions can be obtained by minimizing a Euclidean instanton action to saturate its BPS bound. The heavy fermion approach is widely applicable and physically transparent: heavy electrons carry the strong correlations and dispersive electrons carry the topology. This simple picture unifies the dichotomous phenomena observed in TBG and points to connections between moiré and stoichiometric materials.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Dynamical correlations and order in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene

In magic angle twisted bilayer graphene, transport, thermodynamic and spectroscopic experiments pinpoint at a competition between distinct low-energy states with and without electronic order. We use Dynamical Mean Field Theory (DMFT) on the topological heavy Fermion (THF) model of twisted bilayer graphene to investigate the emergence of electronic correlations and long-range order in the absence of strain. We contrast moment formation, Kondo screening and ordering on a temperature basis and explain the nature of emergent correlated states based on three central phenomena: (i) the formation of local spin and valley isospin moments around 100K, (ii) the ordering of the local isospin moments around 10K preempting Kondo screening, and (iii) a cascadic redistribution of charge between localized and delocalized electronic states upon doping. At integer fillings, we find that low energy spectral weight is depleted in the symmetric phase, while we find insulating states with gaps enhanced by exchange coupling in the zero-strain ordered phases. Doping away from integer filling results in distinct metallic states: a "bad metal" above the ordering temperature, where scattering off the disordered local moments suppresses electronic coherence, and a "good metal" in the ordered states with coherence of quasiparticles facilitated by isospin order. This finding reveals coherence from order as the microscopic mechanism behind the Pomeranchuk effect observed experimentally. Upon doping, there is a periodic charge reshuffling between localized and delocalized electronic orbitals leading to cascades of doping-induced Lifshitz transitions, local spectral weight redistributions and periodic variations of the electronic compressibility. Our findings provide a unified understanding of the most puzzling aspects of scanning tunneling spectroscopy, transport, and compressibility experiments.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Symmetry constraints and spectral crossing in a Mott insulator with Green's function zeros

Lattice symmetries are central to the characterization of electronic topology. Recently, it was shown that Green's function eigenvectors form a representation of the space group. This formulation has allowed the identification of gapless topological states even when quasiparticles are absent. Here we demonstrate the profundity of the framework in the extreme case, when interactions lead to a Mott insulator, through a solvable model with long-range interactions. We find that both Mott poles and zeros are subject to the symmetry constraints, and relate the symmetry-enforced spectral crossings to degeneracies of the original non-interacting eigenstates. Our results lead to new understandings of topological quantum materials and highlight the utility of interacting Green's functions toward their symmetry-based design.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Emergent flat band and topological Kondo semimetal driven by orbital-selective correlations

Flat electronic bands are expected to show proportionally enhanced electron correlations, which may generate a plethora of novel quantum phases and unusual low-energy excitations. They are increasingly being pursued in $d$-electron-based systems with crystalline lattices that feature destructive electronic interference, where they are often topological. Such flat bands, though, are generically located far away from the Fermi energy, which limits their capacity to partake in the low-energy physics. Here we show that electron correlations produce emergent flat bands that are pinned to the Fermi energy. We demonstrate this effect within a Hubbard model, in the regime described by Wannier orbitals where an effective Kondo description arises through orbital-selective Mott correlations. Moreover, the correlation effect cooperates with symmetry constraints to produce a topological Kondo semimetal. Our results motivate a novel design principle for Weyl Kondo semimetals in a new setting, viz. $d$-electron-based materials on suitable crystal lattices, and uncover interconnections among seemingly disparate systems that may inspire fresh understandings and realizations of correlated topological effects in quantum materials and beyond.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

D-CoRP: Differentiable Connectivity Refinement for Functional Brain Networks

Brain network is an important tool for understanding the brain, offering insights for scientific research and clinical diagnosis. Existing models for brain networks typically primarily focus on brain regions or overlook the complexity of brain connectivities. MRI-derived brain network data is commonly susceptible to connectivity noise, underscoring the necessity of incorporating connectivities into the modeling of brain networks. To address this gap, we introduce a differentiable module for refining brain connectivity. We develop the multivariate optimization based on information bottleneck theory to address the complexity of the brain network and filter noisy or redundant connections. Also, our method functions as a flexible plugin that is adaptable to most graph neural networks. Our extensive experimental results show that the proposed method can significantly improve the performance of various baseline models and outperform other state-of-the-art methods, indicating the effectiveness and generalizability of the proposed method in refining brain network connectivity. The code will be released for public availability.

q-bio.NC↗

arXiv2024

Hand-Object Interaction Controller (HOIC): Deep Reinforcement Learning for Reconstructing Interactions with Physics

Hand manipulating objects is an important interaction motion in our daily activities. We faithfully reconstruct this motion with a single RGBD camera by a novel deep reinforcement learning method to leverage physics. Firstly, we propose object compensation control which establishes direct object control to make the network training more stable. Meanwhile, by leveraging the compensation force and torque, we seamlessly upgrade the simple point contact model to a more physical-plausible surface contact model, further improving the reconstruction accuracy and physical correctness. Experiments indicate that without involving any heuristic physical rules, this work still successfully involves physics in the reconstruction of hand-object interactions which are complex motions hard to imitate with deep reinforcement learning. Our code and data are available at https://github.com/hu-hy17/HOIC.

cs.CV↗

arXiv2024

The Thermoelectric Effect and Its Natural Heavy Fermion Explanation in Twisted Bilayer and Trilayer Graphene

We study the interacting transport properties of twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) using the topological heavy-fermion (THF) model. In the THF model, TBG comprises localized, correlated $f$-electrons and itinerant, dispersive $c$-electrons. We focus on the Seebeck coefficient, which quantifies the voltage difference arising from a temperature gradient. We find that the TBG's Seebeck coefficient shows unconventional (strongly-interacting) traits: negative values with sawtooth oscillations at positive fillings, contrasting typical band-theory expectations. This behavior is naturally attributed to the presence of heavy (correlated, short-lived $f$-electrons) and light (dispersive, long-lived $c$-electrons) electronic bands. Their longer lifetime and stronger dispersion lead to a dominant transport contribution from the $c$-electrons. At positive integer fillings, the correlated TBG insulators feature $c$- ($f$-)electron bands on the electron (hole) doping side, leading to an overall negative Seebeck coefficient. Additionally, sawtooth oscillations occur around each integer filling due to gap openings. Our results highlight the essential importance of electron correlations in understanding the transport properties of TBG and, in particular, of the lifetime asymmetry between the two fermionic species (naturally captured by the THF model). Our findings are corroborated by new experiments in both twisted bilayer and trilayer graphene, and show the natural presence of strongly-correlated heavy and light carriers in the system.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Cryo-Near-Field Photovoltage Microscopy of Heavy-Fermion Twisted Symmetric Trilayer Graphene

Ever since the initial experimental observation of correlated insulators and superconductivity in the flat Dirac bands of magic angle twisted bilayer graphene, a search for the microscopic description that explains its strong electronic interactions has begun. While the seemingly disagreeing electronic transport and scanning tunneling microscopy experiments suggest a dichotomy between local and extended electronic orbitals, definitive experimental evidence merging the two patterns together has been much sought after. Here, we report on the local photothermoelectric measurements in the flat electronic bands of twisted symmetric trilayer graphene (TSTG). We use a cryogenic scanning near-field optical microscope with an oscillating atomic force microscopy (AFM) tip irradiated by the infrared photons to create a nanoscopic hot spot in the planar samples, which generates a photocurrent that we probe globally. We observe a breakdown of the non-interacting Mott formalism at low temperatures (10K), signaling the importance of the electronic interactions. Our measurements reveal an overall negative offset of the Seebeck coefficient and significant peaks of the local photovoltage values at all positive integer fillings of the TSTG's moiré superlattice, further indicating a substantial deviation from the classical two-band semiconductor Seebeck response. We explain these observations using the interacting topological heavy-fermion model. In addition, our data reveal a spatial variation of the relative interaction strength dependent on the measured local twist angle (1.2° - 1.6°). Our findings provide experimental evidence of heavy fermion behaviour in the topological flat bands of moiré graphene and epitomize an avenue to apply local thermoelectric measurements to other strongly correlated materials in the disorder-free limit.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗