Pseudomagnetic field in twisted bilayer graphene

Twisted bilayer graphene stands at the forefront of extensive research in condensed matter physics due to its intriguing electronic properties, such as unconventional insulating and superconducting phases. Many of these phenomena are still not understood and this is possible due to the fact that most of the used theoretical models ignore the role played by atoms in determining the electronic properties. In particular, atomic displacement due to the competition between the out-of-plane van der Waal interaction and the in-plane elastic forces can couple to the electronic degrees of freedom in the form of a pseudo-magnetic field. In this theoretical work, we examine the effect of the pseudomagnetic field on the properties of the system. We show that the pseudomagnetic field shifts the magic angle and therefore produces a “magic range” that is expected to vary from sample to sample.