Symmetric Kondo Lattice States in Doped Strained Twisted Bilayer Graphene

We use the topological heavy fermion (THF) model and its Kondo lattice (KL) formulation to study the possibility of a symmetric Kondo (SK) state in twisted bilayer graphene. Via a large-N approximation, we find a SK state in the KL model at fillings ν=0,±1,±2 where a KL model can be constructed. In the SK state, all symmetries are preserved and the local moments are Kondo screened by the conduction electrons. At the mean-field level of the THF model at ν=0,±1,±2,±3 we also find a similar symmetric state that is adiabatically connected to the symmetric Kondo state. We study the stability of the symmetric state by comparing its energy with the ordered (symmetry-breaking) states found in [H. Hu et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 026502 (2023).PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.131.026502, Z.-D. Song and B. A. Bernevig, Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 047601 (2022).PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.129.047601] and find the ordered states to have lower energy at ν=0,±1,±2. However, moving away from integer fillings by doping the light bands, our mean-field calculations find the energy difference between the ordered state and the symmetric state to be reduced, which suggests the loss of ordering and a tendency toward Kondo screening. In order to include many-body effects beyond the mean-field approximation, we also performed dynamical mean-field theory calculations on the THF model in the nonordered phase. The spin susceptibility follows a Curie behavior at ν=0,±1,±2 down to ∼2 K where the onset of screening of the local moment becomes visible. This hints to very low Kondo temperatures at these fillings, in agreement with the outcome of our mean-field calculations. At noninteger filling ν=±0.5,±0.8,±1.2 dynamical mean-field theory shows deviations from a 1/T susceptibility at much higher temperatures, suggesting a more effective screening of local moments with doping. Finally, we study the effect of a C3z-rotational-symmetry-breaking strain via mean-field approaches and find that a symmetric phase (that only breaks C3z symmetry) can be stabilized at sufficiently large strain at ν=0,±1,±2. Our results suggest that a symmetric Kondo phase is strongly suppressed at integer fillings, but could be stabilized either at noninteger fillings or by applying strain.