arXiv subjects

Tobias M. R. Wolf

Publications and source records attributed to Tobias M. R. Wolf.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Non-uniform quantum geometry stabilizes generalized Wigner crystals

Moiré materials host fractional Chern insulators and electron crystals in close proximity, but the mechanism selecting between them remains an open question. We address this competition in Chern bands with ideal but momentum-dependent quantum geometry -- Aharonov-Casher bands. We present an ansatz wave function for generalized Wigner crystals and, by comparing its energy to that of the competing Laughlin-like state, map out the phase diagram at filling fraction $ν=1/m$ as a function of the degree of geometric non-uniformity. Our work identifies quantum geometry-controlled zero point fluctuations of the charge density of the generalized Wigner crystal as the mechanism controlling its relative stability, implying a kind of quantum Lindemann criterion for the crystal-liquid phase boundary.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Theory of magnetoroton bands in moiré materials

The recent realization of Hofstadter spectra and fractional Chern insulators in moiré materials has introduced a new ingredient, a periodic lattice potential, to the study of quantum Hall phases. While the fractionalized states in moiré 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↗

arXiv2026

Charge-ordered states in twisted MoTe$_2$

We analyze interaction-driven charge-density-wave (CDW) states in the spin-valley polarized first valence miniband of twisted MoTe$_2$ (tMoTe$_2$) using an adiabatic mapping from the continuum model to an effective Landau-level (LL) problem. When projected to the lowest LL, the leading spatial harmonic of the moiré-periodic potential changes sign at a magic twist angle $θ_c$ where the band reaches its minimum bandwidth. By solving self-consistent Hartree-Fock equations in a multi-LL Hilbert space, we find that triangular-lattice CDW states with density maxima on MX (or XM) sites or on MM sites are favored on opposite sides of the magic angle at most filling factors and that stripe order appears near $ν_h=1/2$. We show that CDW states at $ν_h >1/2$ can carry a nonzero total Chern number, providing a natural route to reentrant integer quantum Hall effects and discuss the energy competition between fractional Chern insulator and CDW states.

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arXiv2025

Exciton-based sensing of remote electron correlations in 2D heterostructures

Many monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides, including MoS$_2$, MoSe$_2$, WS$_2$, and WSe$_2$, are direct bandgap two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors with sharp optical resonances at excitonic bound state frequencies. Recent experiments have demonstrated that excitonic resonance frequencies in multilayer van der Waals stacks are altered by long-range Coulomb interactions with electrons in nearby but electrically isolated 2D materials. These modulations have been successfully used to detect transitions between distinct states of remote strongly correlated 2D electron fluids. In this Letter we provide a theory of these frequency shifts, enabling a more quantitative interpretation of excitonic-sensing experiments, and apply it as an example to WSe$_2$ that is proximate to graphene bilayers and multilayers.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Intraband collective excitations in fractional Chern insulators are dark

The low-energy collective excitations of semiconductors and insulators often couple strongly to light, allowing them to be probed optically. We argue here that in fractional Chern insulators intra-band collective excitations are dark in the sense that they couple anomalously weakly to light. This conclusion is based on a relationship between ideal quantum geometry and the structure factor of a Chern band, and on a classical plasma analogy motivated by the vortexibility property of ideal Chern bands.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Gate-tunable topological phases in superlattice modulated bilayer graphene

Superlattice potential modulation can produce flat minibands in Bernal-stacked bilayer graphene. In this work we study how band topology and interaction-induced symmetry-broken phases in this system are controlled by tuning the displacement field and the shape and strength of the superlattice potential. We use an analytic perturbative analysis to demonstrate that topological flat bands are favored by a honeycomb-lattice-shaped potential, and numerics to show that the robustness of topological bands depends on both the displacement field strength and the periodicity of the superlattice potential. At integer fillings of the topological flat bands, the strength of the displacement field and the superlattice potential tune phase transitions between quantum anomalous Hall insulator, trivial insulator, and metallic states. We present mean-field phase diagrams in a gate voltage parameter space at filling factor $ν=1$, and discuss the prospects of realizing quantum anomalous Hall insulators and fractional Chern insulators when the superlattice potential modulation is produced by dielectric patterning or adjacent moiré materials.

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arXiv2023

Quasi-boson approximation yields accurate correlation energy in the 2D electron gas

We report the successful adaptation of the quasi-boson approximation, a technique traditionally employed in nuclear physics, to the analysis of the two-dimensional electron gas. We show that the correlation energy estimated from this approximation agrees closely with the results obtained from quantum Monte Carlo simulations. Our methodology comprehensively incorporates the exchange self-energy, direct scattering, and exchange scattering for a particle-hole pair excited out of the mean-field groundstate within the equation-of-motion framework. The linearization of the equation of motion leads to a generalized-random-phase-approximation (gRPA) eigenvalue equation whose spectrum indicates that the plasmon dispersion remains unaffected by exchange effects, while the particle-hole continuum experiences a marked upward shift due to the exchange self-energy. Notably, the plasmon mode retains its collective nature within the particle-hole continuum, up to moderately short wavelength ($q\sim 0.3 k_F$ at metallic density $r_s=4$). Using the gRPA excitation spectrum, we calculate the zero-point energy of the quasi-boson Hamiltonian, thereby approximating the correlation energy of the original Hamiltonian. This research highlights the potential and effectiveness of applying the quasi-boson approximation to the gRPA spectrum, a fundamental technique in nuclear physics, to extended condensed matter systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Non-unitary multiorbital superconductivity from competing interactions in Dirac materials

Unconventional superconductors represent one of the most intriguing quantum states of matter. In particular, multiorbital systems have the potential to host exotic non-unitary superconducting states. While the microscopic origin of non-unitarity is not yet fully solved, competing interactions are suggested to play a crucial role in stabilizing such states. The interplay between charge order and superconductivity has been a recurring theme in unconventionally superconducting systems, ranging from cuprate-based superconductors to dichalcogenide systems and even to twisted van der Waals materials. Here, we demonstrate that the existence of competing interactions gives rise to a non-unitary superconducting state. We show that the non-unitarity stems from a competing charge-ordered state whose interplay with superconductivity promotes a non-trivial multiorbital order. We establish this mechanism both from a Ginzburg-Landau perspective, and also from a fully microscopic selfconsistent solution of a multiorbital Dirac material. Our results put forward competing interactions as a powerful mechanism for driving non-unitary multiorbital superconductivity.

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arXiv2020

Spontaneous Valley Spirals in Magnetically Encapsulated Twisted Bilayer Graphene

Van der Waals heterostructures provide a rich platform for emergent physics due to their tunable hybridization of electronic orbital- and spin-degrees of freedom. Here, we show that a heterostructure formed by twisted bilayer graphene sandwiched between ferromagnetic insulators develops flat bands stemming from the interplay between twist, exchange proximity and spin-orbit coupling. We demonstrate that in this flat-band regime, the spin degree of freedom is hybridized, giving rise to an effective triangular superlattice with valley as a degenerate pseudospin degree of freedom. Incorporating electronic interactions at half-filling leads to a spontaneous valley-mixed state, i.e., a correlated state in the valley sector with geometric frustration of the valley spinor. We show that an electric interlayer bias generates an artificial valley-orbit coupling in the effective model, controlling both the valley anisotropy and the microscopic details of the correlated state, with both phenomena understood in terms of a valley-Heisenberg model with easy-plane anisotropic exchange. Our results put forward twisted graphene encapsulated between magnetic van der Waals heterostructures as platforms to explore purely valley-correlated states in graphene.

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arXiv2019

Substrate-induced topological minibands in graphene

The honeycomb lattice sets the basic arena for numerous ideas to implement electronic, photonic, or phononic topological bands in (meta-)materials. Novel opportunities to manipulate Dirac electrons in graphene through band engineering arise from superlattice potentials as induced by a substrate such as hexagonal boron-nitride. Making use of the general form of a weak substrate potential as dictated by symmetry, we analytically derive the low-energy minibands of the superstructure, including a characteristic 1.5 Dirac cone deriving from a three-band crossing at the Brillouin zone edge. Assuming a large supercell, we focus on a single Dirac cone (or valley) and find all possible arrangements of the low-energy electron and hole bands in a complete six-dimensional parameter space. We identify the various symmetry planes in parameter space inducing gap closures and find the sectors hosting topological minibands, including also complex band crossings that generate a valley Chern number atypically larger than one. Our map provides a starting point for the systematic design of topological bands by substrate engineering.

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arXiv2018

Tunneling into a finite Luttinger liquid coupled to noisy capacitive leads

Tunneling spectroscopy of one-dimensional interacting wires can be profoundly sensitive to the boundary conditions of the wire. Here, we analyze the tunneling spectroscopy of a wire coupled to capacitive metallic leads. Strikingly, with increasing many-body interactions in the wire, the impact of the boundary noise becomes more prominent. This interplay allows for a smooth crossover from standard 1D tunneling signatures into a regime where the tunneling is dominated by the fluctuations at the leads. This regime is characterized by elevated zero-bias tunneling alongside a universal power-law decay at high energies. Furthermore, local tunneling measurements in this regime show a unique spatial-dependence that marks the formation of plasmonic standing waves in the wire. Our result offers a tunable method by which to control the boundary effects and measure the interaction strength (Luttinger parameter) within the wire.

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