Mirror Symmetry Breaking and Lateral Stacking Shifts in Twisted Trilayer Graphene

Abstract

We construct a continuum model of twisted trilayer graphene using {\it ab initio} density-functional-theory calculations, and apply it to address twisted trilayer electronic structure. Our model accounts for moir\'e variation in site energies, hopping between outside layers and within layers. We focus on the role of a mirror symmetry present in ABA graphene trilayers with a middle layer twist. The mirror symmetry is lost intentionally when a displacement field is applied between layers, and unintentionally when the top layer is shifted laterally relative to the bottom layer. We use two band structure characteristics that are directly relevant to transport measurements, the Drude weight and the weak-field Hall conductivity, and relate them via the Hall density to assess the influence of the accidental lateral stacking shifts currently present in all experimental devices on electronic properties, and comment on the role of the possible importance of accidental lateral stacking shifts for superconductivity in twisted trilayers.