{"record":{"author":{"account_ref":null,"orcid":null},"builds_on":[],"content_schema":"pubphys.content.revision/1","content_sha256":"f9740e308fe4eb9cd7938abd37534a79d2b6eac8e3058f6f7e75eea55ded06e8","created":"2026-10-15T23:43:22Z","files":[],"origin":{"assisted_by":[],"kind":"seed"},"parents":["ce59fb6cd812fc05906d0c60a71c75ea22bc686bcf38e7c3ef7010834d98ee7b","d9f036cefe9961b17e034fc4d16dd860fdb3f384f200589a71cbe2293b1d022c"],"salt":"5d60420b4ddce76506dd613abb38a7879628b5ee1cbc27be856382be77b66297","schema":"pubphys.record/2","site":"pubphys.com","target":null,"type":"revision"},"content":{"answer_type":"identification","assisted_by":[],"external_id":"cm.excitonic-insulators.wte2-excitonic","kind":"phenomenon","literature_status":"contested","n":"2","parents":[],"plain":"Monolayer $\\mathrm{WTe_2}$ is insulating at charge neutrality and conducts along its edges. Experiments suggest the bulk gap comes from electron-hole pairing, but a gap from ordinary band mixing or disorder has not been ruled out.","posed_since":"","precise":"Monolayer 1T'-WTe2 has a small bulk gap at charge neutrality that closes with gate-induced doping; 2022 experiments interpreted it as an interaction-driven excitonic insulator, possibly with spontaneous symmetry breaking. Determine whether the gap is an excitonic condensate (order parameter, symmetry breaking, mean-field or BKT-like temperature dependence, collective mode) or a single-particle hybridization gap enhanced by interactions. An answer is the identified gap origin with evidence for or against a broken symmetry.","problem_ref":"d9f036cefe9961b17e034fc4d16dd860fdb3f384f200589a71cbe2293b1d022c","references":"","settled_by":"Direct detection of the predicted broken symmetry (e.g. by optical second-harmonic generation or scanning tunneling spectroscopy of order-parameter domains) or of an excitonic collective mode.","status_note":"2022 Nature Physics reports gave excitonic signatures; independent evidence of a broken symmetry had not appeared as of 2025.","title":"Is the insulating state of monolayer $\\mathrm{WTe_2}$ an excitonic insulator?","topic_ref":null},"attested":{"attestation":{"batch":null,"client_id":null,"id_token_sha256":null,"kind":"platform"},"record_hash":"e5238a22ebc5cebf7af987924301827a8f85754446a609382f8620f60599a01a","schema":"pubphys.attested/1"},"envelope":{"attested_hash":"33c23e29cc8109b86f09f9ebee83b590c2e036d1c3c5ccbeaea914738b027555","platform_signature":{"key_id":"c6afc19b31429869751f06879c75cd64ea92654423d15b44be775bf1310a60da","sig":"gCcCEP2NrvWisHF2uf0TZWmXUsceha5mdYXc7OAyMUyJ7kVLen8-l-IUhRUFQPHapkGCNpTiasNI0o_U0H84Cg"},"schema":"pubphys.envelope/1"},"record_hash":"e5238a22ebc5cebf7af987924301827a8f85754446a609382f8620f60599a01a","leaf_index":2786}