Indications of flat bands driving the δ to α volume collapse of plutonium.

On cooling from the melt, plutonium (Pu) undergoes a series of structural transformations accompanied by a ≈ 28% reduction in volume from its δ phase to its α phase at low temperatures. While Pu's partially filled 5f-electron shells are known to be involved, their precise role in the transformations has remained unclear. By using calorimetry measurements on α-Pu and gallium-stabilized δ-Pu combined with resonant ultrasound and X-ray scattering data to account for the anomalously large softening of the lattice with temperature, we show here that the difference in electronic entropy between the α and δ phases dominates over the difference in phonon entropy. Rather than finding an electronic specific heat characteristic of broad f-electron bands in α-Pu, as might be expected to occur within a Kondo collapsed phase in analogy with cerium, we find it to be indicative of flatter subbands. An important role played by Pu's 5f electrons in the formation of its larger unit cell α phase comprising inequivalent lattice sites and varying bond lengths is therefore suggested.

Pseudospin Polarized Dual-Higher-Order Topology in Hydrogen-Substituted Graphdiyne.

Although the topological band theory is applicable to both Fermionic and bosonic systems, the same electronic and phononic topological phases are seldom reported in one natural material. In this work, we show the presence of a dual-higher-order topology in hydrogen-substituted graphdiyne (H-GDY) by first-principles calculations. The intriguing enantiomorphic flat-bands are realized in both electronic and phononic bands of H-GDY, which is confirmed to be an organic 2D second-order topological insulator (SOTI). Most importantly, we found that the topological corner states are pseudospin polarized in H-GDY, exhibiting a clockwise or counterclockwise texture perpendicular to the radial direction. Our results not only identify the existence of the dual-higher-order topology in covalent organic frameworks but also uncover a unique pseudospin polarization-coordinate locking relation, further extending the well-known spin-momentum locking relation in conventional topological insulators.

Flat-bands in translated and twisted bilayer Penrose quasicrystals.

Correlated phases in Moiré materials together with the flat-bands in twisted systems play a central role to explain superconductivity in the new twisted bilayer graphene. In this paper, flat-bands are shown to exist in both translated and twisted bilayer of quasicrystals. Such flat-bands arise for different displacements and twisting angles of two-coupled Penrose lattices where Moiré patterns are also shown. Moiré patterns analyzed in this work have at least two inverted worms showing an interference pattern going along the five-fold axes of the pentagon. In order to analyze the behavior of the flat band, our study has been done for fixed interference worm directions but increasing the worm interference density, and for fixed worm interference density but increasing the number of worm directions. In case of rotations, the Moiré patterns that occurs for special angles such asπ/5, 2π/5, 3π/5, 4π/5 andπare discussed in detail because they clearly show flat-bands along with quasicrystalline electronic states at the Fermi level.

Twisted graphene superlattices: resonating valence bond states and magnetic properties.

Resonating valence bond (RVB) states are fundamental for understanding quantum spin liquids in two-dimensional (2D) systems. The RVB state is a collective phenomenon in which spins are uncoupled. 2D lattices such as triangular, honeycomb, and dice lattices were investigated using the Hubbard model and exact diagonalization method. We analyzed the total spin, spin-spin correlation functions, local magnetic moments, and spin and charge gaps as a function of on-site Coulomb repulsion, electron concentration, and electronic hopping parameters. Phase diagrams showed that RVB states can live in half-filled and hole-doped anisotropic triangular lattices. We found two types of RVB states: one in the honeycomb sublattice and the other in the centered hexagons in the triangular lattices. Owing to the novel discovery of exotic magnetic ordering in triangular moiré patterns in twisted bilayer graphene and transition metal dichalcogenide systems, our results provide physical insights into the onset of magnetism and possible spin liquid states in these layered materials.