Fractional Chern Insulator and Quantum Anomalous Hall Crystal in Twisted MoTe$_2$

Abstract: Recent experimental advances have uncovered fractional Chern insulators in twisted MoTe$_2$ (tMoTe$_2$) systems, posing significant theoretical challenges in understanding the interaction effects and correlated topological phases. Here, we construct a realistic moir\'e lattice model tailored for tMoTe$_2$ and conduct investigations using state-of-the-art tensor-network methods. Our ground-state calculations reveal a rich array of interaction- and filling-dependent phases, including the FCI, Chern insulator, and generalized Wigner crystal, etc., explaining recent experimental observations. Moreover, we reveal quantum anomalous Hall crystals exhibiting integer Hall conductivity at fractional moir\'e unit cell fillings, which opens new avenues for experimental exploration in tMoTe$_2$. In the FCI phase, dynamical simulations reveal a single-particle continuum with a finite charge gap, indicating the presence of fractional charge excitations. Moreover, our finite-temperature calculations determine the characteristic temperatures for charge activation and ferromagnetic (FM) transitions, consistent with experiments. We find that the charge gap is significantly larger than the energy scales of both thermal activation and FM transitions, explaining recent experimental observations. Overall, by integrating ground-state, finite-temperature, and dynamical tensor-network calculations on the real-space model, we establish a theoretical framework for understanding and exploring correlated topological phases in tMoTe$_2$ and related systems.