{"paper":{"title":"Relaxation-driven flat bands and topology in moir\\'e transition metal dichalcogenide heterobilayers","license":"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","headline":"","cross_cats":["cond-mat.str-el"],"primary_cat":"cond-mat.mes-hall","authors_text":"Liang Fu, Max Geier, Mitchell Luskin, Ziyan Zhu","submitted_at":"2026-08-09T21:13:10Z","abstract_excerpt":"Moir\\'e transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) heterobilayers are commonly modeled by a continuum theory that yields topologically trivial bands, in contrast to their homobilayer counterparts which host topological bands and fractional Chern insulators (FCI). We show this conclusion is an artifact of neglecting the pseudomagnetic field generated by lattice relaxation, an effect intrinsic to every moir\\'e material. We develop a continuum model that resolves relaxation into three channels: a modified moir\\'e potential with higher Fourier harmonics, a pseudoelectric (scalar deformation) potential,"},"claims":{"count":0,"items":[],"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"source":{"id":"2608.08917","kind":"arxiv","version":1},"verdict":{"id":null,"model_set":{},"created_at":null,"strongest_claim":"","one_line_summary":"","pipeline_version":null,"weakest_assumption":"","pith_extraction_headline":""},"integrity":{"clean":true,"summary":{"advisory":0,"critical":0,"by_detector":{},"informational":0},"endpoint":"/pith/2608.08917/integrity.json","findings":[],"available":true,"detectors_run":[],"snapshot_sha256":"c28c3603d3b5d939e8dc4c7e95fa8dfce3d595e45f758748cecf8e644a296938"},"references":{"count":0,"sample":[],"resolved_work":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57","internal_anchors":0},"formal_canon":{"evidence_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"author_claims":{"count":0,"strong_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"builder_version":"pith-number-builder-2026-05-17-v1"}