Fractional Hofstadter States in Graphene on Hexagonal Boron Nitride

Abstract

In fractionally filled Landau levels there is only a small energy difference between broken translational symmetry electron-crystal states and exotic correlated quantum fluid states. We show that the spatially periodic substrate interaction associated with the long period moir\'{e} patterns present in graphene on nearly aligned hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) tilts this close competition in favor of the former, explaining surprising recent experimental findings.