research

Theoretical condensed matter physics — topological phases, quantum geometry, and magnetism in van der Waals systems.

My research develops microscopic models and symmetry-based theory for emergent electronic and magnetic phenomena in correlated and van der Waals (vdW) materials.

Odd-parity magnetism in van der Waals heterostructures

Unconventional magnets whose order parameter changes sign under spatial inversion (odd parity) can host gate-tunable spin responses. In arXiv:2602.11251, we derived the Landau free energy and constructed a tight-binding model for a vdW heterostructure that stabilizes odd-parity magnetic order, predicting a gate-tunable Edelstein response (an electric-field-induced spin polarization).

Topology and quantum geometry

The geometry of Bloch wavefunctions governs much of modern band theory. The Berry curvature $\Omega(\mathbf{k})$ (the momentum-space curvature of the Bloch state bundle) integrates to the Chern number

\[C = \frac{1}{2\pi} \int_{\mathrm{BZ}} \Omega(\mathbf{k}) \, d^2k ,\]

a topological invariant that counts chiral edge modes. We showed that the percolation of Berry curvature in momentum space signals topological transitions (J. Phys.: Condens. Matter), and identified a higher-order topological insulator phase in low-angle moiré honeycomb-kagome heterolayers (npj 2D Mater. Appl.).

Flat bands and many-body physics

Flat bands quench kinetic energy, so interactions dominate. We studied eta-pairing states (exact many-body eigenstates with off-diagonal long-range order) in flatband lattices, and how interband coupling modifies the logarithmic scaling of their entanglement entropy (Phys. Rev. B).

Earlier work

  • Holographic methods: extended holographic mean field theory to strongly interacting fermion systems, classifying phases by topology within the Hamiltonian approach.
  • Particle physics (CERN-CMS): searched for di-Higgs ($t\bar{t}HH$) production at the HL-LHC using Monte Carlo simulation and deep neural networks for $b$-jet identification.