Canted antiferromagnetic phase of the $\nu=0$ quantum Hall state in bilayer graphene

Abstract

Motivated to understand the nature of the strongly insulating $\nu=0$ quantum Hall state in bilayer graphene, we develop the theory of the state in the framework of quantum Hall ferromagnetism. The generic phase diagram, obtained in the presence of the isospin anisotropy, perpendicular electric field, and Zeeman effect, consists of the spin-polarized ferromagnetic (F), canted antiferromagnetic (CAF), and partially (PLP) and fully (FLP) layer-polarized phases. We address the edge transport properties of the phases. Comparing our findings with the recent data on suspended dual-gated devices, we conclude that the insulating $\nu=0$ state realized in bilayer graphene at lower electric field is the CAF phase. We also predict a continuous and a sharp insulator-metal phase transition upon tilting the magnetic field from the insulating CAF and FLP phases, respectively, to the F phase with metallic edge conductance $2e^2/h$, which could be within the reach of available fields and could allow one to identify and distinguish the phases experimentally.