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General Construction and Topological Classification of Perfectly Flat Bands

ORAL

Abstract

Systems harboring flat bands are excellent testbeds for strongly interacting physics, having generated much excitement in the condensed matter community. We present a generic technique to construct perfectly flat bands (FBs) from bipartite crystalline lattices (BCLs). Our prescription generalizes the line- and split-graph constructions encapsulating many of the various other models from literature. Using Topological Quantum Chemistry, we create a full topological classification in terms of symmetry eigenvalues of all (gapped and gapless) BCL FBs, in all Magnetic Space Groups (MSGs). We argue that the BCL FBs can be understood as formal differences of band representations. This allows us to find criteria for the existence of (and fully classify) unitary symmetry-protected touching points between the flat and dispersive bands, and identify the gapped FBs as prime candidates for fragile topological bands. Finally, we show that the set of BCL FBs is finitely generated and construct the corresponding bases in all MSGs, providing a comprehensive list of BCLs realizable in real materials.

Presenters

  • Dumitru Calugaru

    Princeton, Princeton University

Authors

  • Dumitru Calugaru

    Princeton, Princeton University

  • Aaron Chew

    Princeton University

  • Luis Elcoro

    Department of Condensed Matter Physics, University of the Basque Country, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, University of the Basque Country, University of the Basque Country, Spain

  • Da-Shuai Ma

    Princeton University, Key Lab of Advanced Optoelectronic Quantum Architecture and Measurement (MOE), Beijing Key Lab of Nanophotonics, and Ultrafine Optoelectronic Systems, and School of Physics,

  • Zhida Song

    Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton University, Physics, Princeton University

  • Andrei B Bernevig

    Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton University, Princeto University, Princeton, USA, Physics, Princeton University