arXiv · 2601.13172
Electronic phonon-induced magnetism in moir\'e Mott-Wigner crystals
Abstract
We show that magnetism in moir\'e Mott-Wigner crystals can be induced by the collective vibration of electrons around their equilibrium positions (i.e., electronic phonons), even without spin interactions between electrons. Due to a geometric valley-orbit coupling from the Berry phase effect, the zero-point energy of electronic phonons reaches minimum when electrons are fully valley polarized. This leads to a spontaneous magnetization when below a critical temperature. We also propose to engineer the magnetism through the photoexcitation of chiral electronic phonons.
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Weide Liang, Xiaoying Du, Na Zhang, Hongyi Yu. 2026-01-19. Electronic phonon-induced magnetism in moir\'e Mott-Wigner crystals. https://doi.org/10.1103/w6qd-yq17
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