Domain Formation Driven by the Entropy of Topological Edge Modes

Abstract

In this Letter we study interacting systems with spontaneous discrete symmetry breaking, where the degenerate symmetry-broken states are topologically distinct gapped phases. Edge modes appear at domain walls between the two topological phases. In the presence of a weak disorder field conjugate to the order parameter, we find that the entropy of the edge modes drives a thermal transition between a gapped uniform phase and a phase with a disorder-induced domain structure. We characterize this transition using a phenomenological Landau functional, and corroborate our conclusions with a concrete microscopic model. Finally, we discuss the possibilities of experimental signatures of this phase transition, and propose graphene-based moiré heterostructures as candidate materials in which such a phase transition can be detected.

arXiv commentPublished version

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• Imaging Chern mosaic and Berry-curvature magnetism in magic-angle graphene
• Anderson's theorem for correlated insulating states in twisted bilayer graphene
• Edge-driven transition between extended quantum anomalous Hall crystal and fractional Chern insulator in rhombohedral graphene multilayers
• Entropy-Enhanced Fractional Quantum Anomalous Hall Effect
• False Vacuum Decay in Flat-Band Ferromagnets: Role of Quantum Geometry and Chiral Edge States
• Interfacial Line Energy of a Topological Phase
• Doping-induced Quantum Anomalous Hall Crystals and Topological Domain Walls