Moiré band theory for M-valley twisted transition metal dichalcogenides

Abstract: We examine the viability of twisted bilayers of group IV and IVB trigonal transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) MX$_{2}$ (M$=$Ti, Zr, Hf, Sn and X$=$S, Se, Te) as a moir\'{e} material platform. We show that the low energy conduction band states in these systems are accurately described by a set of three emergent periodic Hamiltonians which we derive for a representative homobilayer from small unit cell density functional theory calculations using a local displacement approximation. In monolayer form, these TMDs have conduction band minima with anisotropic effective masses near the three inequivalent Brillouin zone $M$ points, implying a moir\'e band model that has six flavors when spin is included. Because each $M$ point is time-reversal invariant, spontaneous valley polarization is signaled in transport by anisotropy instead of by the anomalous Hall and magnetic circular dichroism effects commonly seen in graphene and $K$-valley TMD based moir\'{e} multilayers.