First order Quantum Hall to Wigner crystal phase transition on a triangular lattice: an iDMRG study

Abstract

In this work we study a system of interacting fermions on a triangular lattice in the presence of an external magnetic field. We neglect spin and fix a density of one third, with one unit of magnetic flux per particle. The infinite density matrix renormalization group algorithm is used to compute the ground state of this generalized Fermi-Hubbard model. Increasing the strength of the nearest-neighbor repulsion, we find a first order transition between an Integer Quantum Hall phase and a crystalline, generalized Wigner crystal state. The first-order nature of the phase transition is consistent with a Ginzburg-Landau argument. We expect our results to be relevant for moir\'e heterostructures of two-dimensional materials.