Sliding Luttinger Liquid and Topological Flat Bands in Symmetry Mismatched Moir\'e Interfaces

TL;DR

This paper models Moiré interfaces with symmetry mismatch, revealing emergent symmetries, Sliding Luttinger Liquid phases, and topological flat bands, advancing understanding of low-energy electronic states in twisted 2D materials.

Contribution

It derives a continuum model from microscopic tight-binding descriptions for symmetry-mismatched Moiré systems, identifying novel phases and topological features.

Findings

Emergent time-reversal symmetry and quasi-1D Sliding Luttinger Liquid phase.

Presence of nontrivial Berry curvature dipole indicating topological character.

Identification of topological flat bands with honeycomb and Kagome structures.

Abstract

In this work we analyze a class of Moir\'e models consisting of an active honeycomb monolayer such as graphene or a hexagonal transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMD) on top of a substrate, in which the K and K' valleys of the active layer are folded near each other by a suitably chosen substrate geometry. Generalizing the so-called ``coupled-valley'' model of Scheer et al. [1], we start from a microscopic tight-binding description, deriving a continuum model from Schrieffer-Wolff perturbation theory and obtaining an effective description of the low-energy momentum states in either valley as well as the explicit microscopic forms of the Moir\'e potentials. We then consider two explicit symmetry-mismatched Moir\'e geometries with a rectangular substrate, the first of which displays an emergent time-reversal symmetry as well as a broad parameter regime which displays quasi-1D physics characterized by the existence of a Sliding Luttinger Liquid phase. This model also has a nontrivial topological character, captured by the Berry curvature dipole. The second geometry displays an emergent $C_3$ rotational symmetry despite the rectangular substrate, reducing to a continuum model considered in Ref. [1] that was shown to display honeycomb and Kagome topological flat bands.