Mathematical models of topologically protected transport in twisted bilayer graphene

TL;DR

This paper develops mathematical models to analyze topologically protected edge transport in twisted bilayer graphene, revealing how valley-dependent topological invariants influence asymmetric currents along interfaces and junctions.

Contribution

It introduces continuum PDE models for twisted bilayer graphene, deriving bulk invariants, analyzing valley coupling, and proving quantized asymmetric currents at junctions.

Findings

Bulk invariants for a single valley are derived.

Asymmetric transport along interfaces is quantified.

Valleys are approximately decoupled under small perturbations.

Abstract

Twisted bilayer graphene gives rise to large moir\'{e} patterns that form a triangular network upon mechanical relaxation. If gating is included, each triangular region has gapped electronic Dirac points that behave as bulk topological insulators with topological indices depending on valley index and the type of stacking. Since each triangle has two oppositely charged valleys, they remain topologically trivial. In this work, we address several questions related to the edge currents of this system by analysis and computation of continuum PDE models. Firstly, we derive the bulk invariants corresponding to a single valley, and then apply a bulk-interface correspondence to quantify asymmetric transport along the interface. Secondly, we introduce a valley-coupled continuum model to show how valleys are approximately decoupled in the presence of small perturbations using a multiscale expansion, and how valleys couple for larger defects. Thirdly, we present a method to prove for a large class of continuum (pseudo-)differential models that a quantized asymmetric current is preserved through a junction such as a triangular network vertex. We support all of these arguments with numerical simulations using spectral methods to compute relevant currents and wavepacket propagation.