Parafermions in moiré minibands

Abstract Moiré materials provide a remarkably tunable platform for topological and strongly correlated quantum phases of matter. Very recently, the first Abelian fractional Chern insulators (FCIs) at zero magnetic field have been experimentally demonstrated, and it has been theoretically predicted t...

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Main Authors: Hui Liu, Raul Perea-Causin, Emil J. Bergholtz
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-02-01
Series:Nature Communications
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57035-x
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author Hui Liu
Raul Perea-Causin
Emil J. Bergholtz
author_facet Hui Liu
Raul Perea-Causin
Emil J. Bergholtz
author_sort Hui Liu
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Moiré materials provide a remarkably tunable platform for topological and strongly correlated quantum phases of matter. Very recently, the first Abelian fractional Chern insulators (FCIs) at zero magnetic field have been experimentally demonstrated, and it has been theoretically predicted that non-Abelian states with Majorana fermion excitations may be realized in the nearly dispersionless minibands of these systems. Here, we provide telltale evidence based on many-body exact diagonalization for the even more exotic possibility of moiré-based non-Abelian FCIs exhibiting Fibonacci parafermion excitations. In particular, we obtain low-energy quantum numbers, spectral flow, many-body Chern numbers, and entanglement spectra consistent with the $${{\mathbb{Z}}}_{3}$$ Z 3 Read–Rezayi parafermion phase in an exemplary moiré system with tunable quantum geometry. Our results hint towards the robustness of moiré-based parafermions and encourage the pursuit in moiré systems of these non-Abelian quasiparticles that are superior candidates for topological quantum computing.
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spelling doaj-art-2ef893d867d5404bb4dc3fa8fd343aaf2025-08-20T02:15:16ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-02-011611710.1038/s41467-025-57035-xParafermions in moiré minibandsHui Liu0Raul Perea-Causin1Emil J. Bergholtz2Department of Physics, Stockholm UniversityDepartment of Physics, Stockholm UniversityDepartment of Physics, Stockholm UniversityAbstract Moiré materials provide a remarkably tunable platform for topological and strongly correlated quantum phases of matter. Very recently, the first Abelian fractional Chern insulators (FCIs) at zero magnetic field have been experimentally demonstrated, and it has been theoretically predicted that non-Abelian states with Majorana fermion excitations may be realized in the nearly dispersionless minibands of these systems. Here, we provide telltale evidence based on many-body exact diagonalization for the even more exotic possibility of moiré-based non-Abelian FCIs exhibiting Fibonacci parafermion excitations. In particular, we obtain low-energy quantum numbers, spectral flow, many-body Chern numbers, and entanglement spectra consistent with the $${{\mathbb{Z}}}_{3}$$ Z 3 Read–Rezayi parafermion phase in an exemplary moiré system with tunable quantum geometry. Our results hint towards the robustness of moiré-based parafermions and encourage the pursuit in moiré systems of these non-Abelian quasiparticles that are superior candidates for topological quantum computing.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57035-x
spellingShingle Hui Liu
Raul Perea-Causin
Emil J. Bergholtz
Parafermions in moiré minibands
Nature Communications
title Parafermions in moiré minibands
title_full Parafermions in moiré minibands
title_fullStr Parafermions in moiré minibands
title_full_unstemmed Parafermions in moiré minibands
title_short Parafermions in moiré minibands
title_sort parafermions in moire minibands
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57035-x
work_keys_str_mv AT huiliu parafermionsinmoireminibands
AT raulpereacausin parafermionsinmoireminibands
AT emiljbergholtz parafermionsinmoireminibands