Abstract

Determining the nature of charge carriers is a fundamental goal in the study of strongly correlated electron systems. Here, we employ the continuous-field momentum-space quantum Monte Carlo method to reveal exotic "Dirac trion" excitations in the finite-temperature normal state of twisted bilayer graphene. While the ground state is a symmetry-breaking insulator with gapped (∼20 meV) electron-like excitations, we show that a small temperature (∼3 meV), well below the interaction scale, drives the system into a strongly fluctuating symmetric normal state. We demonstrate that this normal state hosts gapless excitations consisting of three-particle bound states, two electrons and one hole, that are exactly orthogonal to the higher-energy electrons at the zero-momentum gapless point. These Dirac trions have the remarkable property of being arbitrarily light despite being composed of heavy constituents, and their spectra can be easily tuned by varying the twist angle and interlayer hopping strength. Our unbiased quantum many-body computation sheds light on the Dirac trions in a projected correlated flat-band setting and opens the door for further investigation of many-body excitations in strongly correlated topological bands beyond Landau levels.

Abstract

Determining the nature of charge carriers is a fundamental goal in the study of strongly correlated electron systems. Here, we employ the continuous-field momentum-space quantum Monte Carlo method to reveal exotic "Dirac trion" excitations in the finite-temperature normal state of twisted bilayer graphene. While the ground state is a symmetry-breaking insulator with gapped (∼20 meV) electron-like excitations, we show that a small temperature (∼3 meV), well below the interaction scale, drives the system into a strongly fluctuating symmetric normal state. We demonstrate that this normal state hosts gapless excitations consisting of three-particle bound states, two electrons and one hole, that are exactly orthogonal to the higher-energy electrons at the zero-momentum gapless point. These Dirac trions have the remarkable property of being arbitrarily light despite being composed of heavy constituents, and their spectra can be easily tuned by varying the twist angle and interlayer hopping strength. Our unbiased quantum many-body computation sheds light on the Dirac trions in a projected correlated flat-band setting and opens the door for further investigation of many-body excitations in strongly correlated topological bands beyond Landau levels.

Abstract

Determining the nature of charge carriers is a fundamental goal in the study of strongly correlated electron systems. Here, we employ the continuous-field momentum-space quantum Monte Carlo method to reveal exotic "Dirac trion" excitations in the finite-temperature normal state of twisted bilayer graphene. While the ground state is a symmetry-breaking insulator with gapped (∼20 meV) electron-like excitations, we show that a small temperature (∼3 meV), well below the interaction scale, drives the system into a strongly fluctuating symmetric normal state. We demonstrate that this normal state hosts gapless excitations consisting of three-particle bound states, two electrons and one hole, that are exactly orthogonal to the higher-energy electrons at the zero-momentum gapless point. These Dirac trions have the remarkable property of being arbitrarily light despite being composed of heavy constituents, and their spectra can be easily tuned by varying the twist angle and interlayer hopping strength. Our unbiased quantum many-body computation sheds light on the Dirac trions in a projected correlated flat-band setting and opens the door for further investigation of many-body excitations in strongly correlated topological bands beyond Landau levels.

Abstract

Determining the nature of charge carriers is a fundamental goal in the study of strongly correlated electron systems. Here, we employ the continuous-field momentum-space quantum Monte Carlo method to reveal exotic "Dirac trion" excitations in the finite-temperature normal state of twisted bilayer graphene. While the ground state is a symmetry-breaking insulator with gapped (∼20 meV) electron-like excitations, we show that a small temperature (∼3 meV), well below the interaction scale, drives the system into a strongly fluctuating symmetric normal state. We demonstrate that this normal state hosts gapless excitations consisting of three-particle bound states, two electrons and one hole, that are exactly orthogonal to the higher-energy electrons at the zero-momentum gapless point. These Dirac trions have the remarkable property of being arbitrarily light despite being composed of heavy constituents, and their spectra can be easily tuned by varying the twist angle and interlayer hopping strength. Our unbiased quantum many-body computation sheds light on the Dirac trions in a projected correlated flat-band setting and opens the door for further investigation of many-body excitations in strongly correlated topological bands beyond Landau levels.