A real-space formulation is given for the recently discussed exciton condensate in a symmetrically biased graphene bilayer. We show that in the continuum limit an oddly-quantized vortex in this condensate binds exactly one zero mode per valley index of the bilayer. In the full lattice model the zero modes are split slightly due to intervalley mixing. We support these results by an exact numerical diagonalization of the lattice Hamiltonian. We also discuss the effect of the zero modes on the charge content of these vortices and deduce some of their interesting properties.
We show that the fractional statistics of quasiparticles in dimerized graphene, in recent proposals for charge and statistics fractionalization, can have two realizations depending whether elementary objects can be considered as point-like or extended objects. Therefore, there are two phases of proposed excitations and we give their topological descriptions with their respective statistics. We propose that a natural setting for fractionalization are certain systems with excitonic instabilities and demonstrate this by an example of graphene bilayer.
Fermion-number fractionalization without breaking of time-reversal symmetry was recently demonstrated for a field theory in $(2+1)$-dimensional space and time that describes the couplings between massive Dirac fermions, a complex-valued Higgs field carrying an axial gauge charge of 2, and a U(1) axial gauge field. Charge fractionalization occurs whenever the Higgs field either supports vortices by itself, or when these vortices are accompanied by half-vortices in the axial gauge field. The fractional charge is computed by three different techniques. A formula for the fractional charge is given…
The physics of vortices, instantons and deconfinement is studied for layered superfluids in connection to bilayer quantum Hall systems at filling fraction nu=1. We develop an effective gauge theory taking into account both vortices and instantons induced by interlayer tunneling. The renormalization group flow of the gauge charge and the instanton fugacity shows that the coupling of the gauge field to vortex matter produces a continuous transition between the confining phase of free instantons and condensed vortices and a deconfined gapless superfluid where magnetic charges are bound into dipol…
In part (I) of this two paper series on stripe fractionalization, we argued that in principle the `domain wall-ness' of the stripe phase could persist in the spin and charge disordered superconductors, and we demonstrated how this physics is in one-to-one correspondence with Ising gauge theory. Here we focus on yet another type of order suggested by the gauge theory: the quantum spin nematic. Although it is not easy to measure this order directly, we argue that the superconducting vortices act as perturbations destroying the gauge symmetry locally. This turns out to give rise to a simple examp…
An odd number of gapless Dirac fermions is guaranteed to exist at a surface of a strong topological insulator. We show that in a thin-film geometry and under external bias, electron-hole pairs that reside in these surface states can condense to form a coherent exciton condensate, similar in general terms to the exciton condensate recently argued to exist in a biased graphene bilayer, but with different topological properties. Such a `topological' exciton condensate (TEC) exhibits a host of unusual properties; the most interesting among them is the fractional charge +-e/2 carried by a singly qu…
We propose a phenomenological model that describes counterflow and drag experiments with quantum Hall bilayers in a ν_T=1 state. We consider the system consisting of statistically distributed areas with local total filling factors ν_{T1}>1 and ν_{T2}<1. The excess or deficit of electrons in a given area results in an appearance of vortex excitations. The vortices in quantum Hall bilayers are charged. They are responsible for a decay of the exciton supercurrent, and, at the same time, contribute to the conductivity directly. The experimental temperature dependence of the counterflow and drive r…
It is known that electron interactions can cause a perfect spin polarization of the Fermi surface of a metal. In such a situation only half of the non-interacting Fermi surface is available, and thus this phase is commonly referred to as a 'half-metal'. Here we argue that, in multi-band electronic systems with nesting, further 'fractionalization' of the Fermi surface is possible. Taking the AA bilayer graphene as a convenient test case, we demonstrate that, under suitable conditions imposed on the electron interactions, doped AA bilayer graphene can host a 'quarter-metal' state. In such a stat…
We construct a chiral gauge theory to describe fractionalization of fermions in graphene. Thereby we extend a recently proposed model, which relies on vortex formation. Our chiral gauge fields provide dynamics for the vortices and also couple to the fermions.
Using density-functional theory, we calculate the electronic bandstructure of single-layer graphene on top of hexagonal In_2Te_2 monolayers. The geometric configuration with In and Te atoms at centers of carbon hexagons leads to a Kekule' texture with an ensuing bandgap of 20 meV. The alternative structure, nearly degenerate in energy, with the In and Te atoms on top of carbon sites is characterized instead by gapless spectrum with the original Dirac cones of graphene reshaped, depending on the graphene-indium chalcogenide distance, either in the form of an undoubled pseudo-spin one Dirac cone…
Graphene is a monoatomic layer of graphite with Carbon atoms arranged in a two dimensional honeycomb lattice configuration. It has been known for more than sixty years that the electronic structure of graphene can be modelled by two-dimensional massless relativistic fermions. This property gives rise to numerous applications, both in applied sciences and in theoretical physics. Electronic circuits made out of graphene could take advantage of its high electron mobility that is witnessed even at room temperature. In the theoretical domain the Dirac-like behavior of graphene can simulate high ene…
We study the superconducting pairing symmetry in twisted bilayer graphene by solving the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equation for all electrons in moiré supercells. With increasing the pairing potential, the system evolves from the mixed nontopological $d+id$ and $p+ip$ phase to the $s+p+d$ phase via the first-order phase transition. In the time-reversal symmetry breaking $d+id$ and $p+ip$ phase, vortex and antivortex lattices accompanying spontaneous supercurrent are induced by the twist. The superconducting order parameter is nonuniform in the moiré unit cell. Nevertheless, the superconducting gap …
We explore the ground states and quantum phase transitions of two-dimensional, spin S=1/2, antiferromagnets by generalizing lattice models and duality transforms introduced by Sachdev and Jalabert (Mod. Phys. Lett. B 4, 1043 (1990), http://onsager.physics.yale.edu/p32.pdf). The `minimal' model for square lattice antiferromagnets is a lattice discretization of the quantum non-linear sigma model, along with Berry phases which impose quantization of spin. With full SU(2) spin rotation invariance, we find a magnetically ordered ground state with Neel order at weak coupling, and a confining paramag…
In this paper we explore possible phases arising from doping neutral excitons into a Mott insulator in the context of moiré bilayers. We consider two moiré layers coupled together only through inter-layer repulsion and there is a U(2)$\times$ U(2) symmetry. The densities of the two layers can be tuned to be $n_t=x,n_b=1-x$ with $n_t+n_b=1$. $x=0$ limit is a layer polarized Mott insulator and small $x$ regime can be reached by doping inter-layer excitons at density $x$. Charge gap can remain finite at small $x$, as is demonstrated experimentally in the WSe$_2$-hBN-WSe$_2$/WS$_2$ system. To capt…
We investigate the interplay of magnetic fluctuations and Cooper pairing in twisted bilayer graphene from a purely microscopic model within a large-scale tight-binding approach resolving the Ångström scale. For local onsite repulsive interactions and using the random-phase approximation for spin fluctuations, we derive a microscopic effective pairing interaction that we use for self-consistent solutions of the Bogoliubov-de-Gennes equations of superconductivity. We study the predominant pairing types as function of interaction strength, temperature and band filling. For large regions of this p…
Bilayer electron-hole systems, where the electrons and holes are created via doping and confined to separate layers, undergo excitonic condensation when the distance between the layers is smaller than typical distance between particles within a layer. We argue that the excitonic condensate is a novel dipolar superfluid in which the phase of the condensate couples to the {\it gradient} of the vector potential. We predict the existence of dipolar supercurrent which can be tuned by an in-plane magnetic field and detected by independent contacts to the layers. Thus the dipolar superfluid offers an…
We show that the Wannier obstruction and the fragile topology of the nearly flat bands in twisted bilayer graphene at magic angle are manifestations of the nontrivial topology of two-dimensional real wave functions characterized by the Euler class. To prove this, we examine the generic band topology of two dimensional real fermions in systems with space-time inversion $I_{ST}$ symmetry. The Euler class is an integer topological invariant classifying real two band systems. We show that a two-band system with a nonzero Euler class cannot have an $I_{ST}$-symmetric Wannier representation. Moreove…
We employ general arguments and numerical simulations to show that unpaired Majorana zero modes can occur in cores of Abrikosov vortices at the interface between a three-dimensional topological insulator, such as Bi$_2$Se$_3$, and a twisted bilayer of high-$T_c$ cuprate superconductor, such as Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+δ}$. When the twist angle is close to $45^{\rm o}$ the latter forms a fully gapped topological superconductor up to temperatures approaching its native $T_c\simeq 90$K. Majorana zero modes in these structures will persist up to unprecedented high temperatures and, depending on t…
When two layers of two-dimensional materials are assembled with a relative twist, moiré patterns arise, inducing a tremendous wealth of exotic phenomena. In this work, we consider twisting two triangular lattices hosting Dirac quantum spin liquids. A single decoupled layer is described by compact quantum electrodynamics in 2+1 dimensions (QED$_3$) with an emergent $\mathrm{U}(1)$ gauge field, which is assumed to flow to a strongly interacting fixed point in the IR with conformal symmetry. We use recent results for the quantum numbers of monopole operators, which tunnel $2 π$ fluxes of the comp…
