Ferromagnetic semimetal and charge-density wave phases of interacting electrons in a honeycomb moir\'e potential

TL;DR

This paper investigates the phases of interacting electrons on a honeycomb moiré lattice at quarter filling, revealing a transition from a paramagnetic metal to a ferromagnetic semimetal and a charge-density-wave insulator using advanced quantum Monte Carlo methods.

Contribution

It provides the first reliable computational study of the ground states in a honeycomb moiré system considering strong Coulomb interactions and large system sizes.

Findings

Transition from paramagnetic metal to ferromagnetic semimetal

Emergence of charge-density-wave insulator phase

Relevance to current experimental systems

Abstract

The exploration of quantum phases in moir\'e systems has drawn intense experimental and theoretical efforts. The realization of honeycomb symmetry has been a recent focus. The combination of strong interaction and honeycomb symmetry can lead to exotic electronic states such as fractional Chern insulator, unconventional superconductor, and quantum spin liquid. Accurate computations in such systems, with reliable treatment of strong long-ranged Coulomb interaction and approaching the large system sizes to extract thermodynamic phases, are mostly missing. We study the two-dimensional electron gas on a honeycomb moir\'e lattice at quarter filling, using fixed-phase diffusion Monte Carlo. The ground state phases of this important model are determined in the parameter regime relevant to current experiments. With increasing moir\'e potential, the systems transitions from a paramagnetic metal to an itinerant ferromagnetic semimetal and then a charge-density-wave insulator.