Valley-polarized nematic order in twisted moiré systems: In-plane orbital magnetism and non-Fermi liquid to Fermi liquid crossover

Abstract

The interplay between strong correlations and non-trivial topology in twisted moiré systems can give rise to a rich landscape of ordered states that intertwine the spin, valley, and charge degrees of freedom. In this paper, we investigate the properties of a system that displays long-range valley-polarized nematic order. Besides breaking the threefold rotational symmetry of the triangular moiré superlattice, this type of order also breaks twofold rotational and time-reversal symmetries, which leads to interesting properties. First, we develop a phenomenological model to describe the onset of this ordered state in twisted moiré systems and to explore its signatures in their thermodynamic and electronic properties. Its main manifestation is that it triggers the emergence of in-plane orbital magnetic moments oriented along high-symmetry lattice directions. We also investigate the properties of the valley-polarized nematic state at zero temperature. Due to the existence of a dangerously irrelevant coupling $\lambda$ in the six-state clock model that describes the putative valley-polarized nematic quantum critical point, the ordered state displays a pseudo-Goldstone mode. Using a two-patch model, we compute the fermionic self-energy to show that down to very low energies, the Yukawa-like coupling between the pseudo-Goldstone mode and the electronic degrees of freedom promotes the emergence of non-Fermi liquid behavior. Below a crossover energy scale ${\Omega }^{\ast }\sim {\lambda }^{3/2}$, however, Fermi liquid behavior is recovered. Finally, we discuss the applicability of these results to other non-trivial nematic states, such as the spin-polarized nematic phase.

journal version to appear in PRB

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• Stable non-Fermi liquid fixed point at the onset of incommensurate $2k_F$ charge density wave order
• A critical nematic phase with pseudogap-like behavior in twisted bilayers
• Induction of non-Fermi liquids by critical cavity photons at the onset of superradiance
• Non-Fermi Liquids from Subsystem Symmetry Breaking in van der Waals Multilayers
• Non-Fermi liquid behaviour of CDW instabilities in fractionally-filled moiré flatbands