Theory of a continuous bandwidth-tuned Wigner-Mott transition

Abstract

We develop a theory for a continuous bandwidth-tuned transition at fixed \textit{fractional} electron filling from a metal with a generic Fermi surface to a `Wigner-Mott' insulator that spontaneously breaks crystalline space-group symmetries. Across the quantum critical point, (i) the entire electronic Fermi surface disappears abruptly upon approaching from the metallic side, and (ii) the insulating charge gap and various order parameters associated with the spontaneously broken space-group symmetries vanish continuously upon approaching from the insulating side. Additionally, the insulating side hosts a Fermi surface of neutral spinons. We present a framework for describing such continuous metal-insulator transitions (MITs) and analyze the example of a bandwidth-tuned transition at a filling, $\nu =1/6$, for spinful electrons on the triangular lattice. By extending the theory to a certain large-$N$ limit, we provide a concrete example of such a continuous MIT and discuss numerous experimental signatures near the critical point. We place our results in the context of recent experiments in moiré transition metal dichalcogenide materials.

arXiv comment13 pages, 6 figures; updated upon journal acceptance

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Cited by in corpus (18)

• Giant nonlinear Hall effect in twisted WSe${}_2$
• Phase transitions out of quantum Hall states in moiré materials
• Dielectric catastrophe at the Mott and Wigner transitions in a moiré superlattice
• Magnetism and Quantum Melting in Moiré-Material Wigner Crystals
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• Universal transport at Lifshitz metal-insulator transitions in two dimensions