Strain-induced excitonic instability in twisted bilayer graphene

The low-energy bands of twisted bilayer graphene form Dirac cones with approximate electron-hole symmetry at small rotation angles. These crossings are protected by the emergent symmetries of moir\'e patterns, conferring a topological character to the bands. Strain accumulated between layers (heterostrain) shifts the Dirac points both in energy and momentum. The overlap of conduction and valence bands favors an excitonic instability of the Fermi surface close to the neutrality point. The spontaneous condensation of electron-hole pairs breaks time-reversal symmetry and the separate conservation of charge within each valley sector. The order parameter describes interlayer circulating currents in a Kekul\'e-like orbital magnetization density wave. Vortices in this order parameter carry fermion numbers owing to the underlying topology of the bands. This mechanism may explain the occurrence of insulating states at neutrality in the most homogeneous samples, where uniform strain fields contribute to both stabilizing the relative orientation between layers and to the formation of an excitonic gap.