A Different Perspective on Superconductivity in Crystalline Graphene: Exploiting Energetics
Abstract
A central mystery of crystalline graphene is why superconductivity is so widespread yet often confined to strange slivers near boundaries between distinct isospin-ordered metals. In this paper, we apply a ``two-parent'' energetic framework which we show can explain this unusual form of superconductivity \textit{without} specifying the details of the necessarily present pairing attraction. First-order transitions are crucial here: when two normal isospin-ordered states are degenerate in free energy, even a small net superconducting energy gain may stabilize an equilibrium superconductor. We demonstrate how this is possible even though the small energy gain from pairing is reduced by the expense of reconstructing the normal metal, which is needed to achieve superconducting compatibility. The first order degeneracy also gives superconductivity a choice between two normal state parents, favoring the state with the largest net free energy gain.
Related
- FLAKE: Friction and Lattice Analysis of Kinetics and Energetics of rigid 2D clusters on crystalline substrates
- Superconductivity in the Repulsive Hubbard Model on Different Geometries Induced by Density-Assisted Hopping
- Different reconstruction pathways toward superconductivity in TaRhTe4 and TaIrTe4 Weyl semimetals
- Reservoir computing generalized: Exploiting complex dynamics via time-invariant transformation
- Imaging-based visible light positioning exploiting yin-yang-yao-pattern fiducial markers on edge-lit LED panel luminaires
BibTeX
@misc{wang2026different,
title = {{A Different Perspective on Superconductivity in Crystalline Graphene: Exploiting Energetics}},
author = {Ke Wang and Shicong Song and K. Levin},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.40104},
eprint = {2609.40104},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.40104},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - A Different Perspective on Superconductivity in Crystalline Graphene: Exploiting Energetics
AU - Ke Wang
AU - Shicong Song
AU - K. Levin
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/30
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.40104
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.40104
AB - A central mystery of crystalline graphene is why superconductivity is so widespread yet often confined to strange slivers near boundaries between distinct isospin-ordered metals. In this paper, we apply a ``two-parent'' energetic framework which we show can explain this unusual form of superconductivity \textit{without} specifying the details of the necessarily present pairing attraction. First-order transitions are crucial here: when two normal isospin-ordered states are degenerate in free energy, even a small net superconducting energy gain may stabilize an equilibrium superconductor. We demonstrate how this is possible even though the small energy gain from pairing is reduced by the expense of reconstructing the normal metal, which is needed to achieve superconducting compatibility. The first order degeneracy also gives superconductivity a choice between two normal state parents, favoring the state with the largest net free energy gain.
ER -