Evolution of flat bands in two-dimensional fused pentagon network

TL;DR

This paper investigates flat-band phenomena in a pentagon network model inspired by carbon materials, deriving exact eigenstates and exploring near-flat bands, which could facilitate studies of correlated electron physics.

Contribution

It analytically derives flat-band energies and wave functions in a non-conventional lattice, expanding understanding of accidental flat bands beyond typical lattice classes.

Findings

Exact flat-band eigenstates are derived analytically.

Near-flat bands appear close to the Fermi level.

The system is a promising platform for flat-band-induced correlated physics.

Abstract

Theoretical quest of flat-band tight-binding models usually relies on lattice structures on which electrons reside. Typical examples of candidate lattice structures include the Lieb-type lattices and the line graphs. Meanwhile, there can be accidental flat-band systems that belong to neither of such typical classes and deriving flat-band energies and wave functions for such systems is not straightforward. In this work, we investigate the characteristic band structure for the tight-binding model on a network composed of pentagonal rings, which is inspired by the theoretically-predicted carbon-based material. Although the lattice does not belong to conventional classes of flat band models, the exact flat bands appear only for fine-tuned parameters. We analytically derive the exact eigenenergies and eigenstates of the flat bands. By using the analytic form of the Bloch wave function, we construct the corresponding Wannier function and reveal its characteristic real-space profile. We also find that, even away from the exact flat-band limits, the nearly flat band exists near the Fermi level for the half-filled systems, which indicates that the present system will be a suitable platform for questing flat-band-induced correlated electron physics if it is realized in the real material.