Metals, fractional metals, and superconductivity in rhombohedral trilayer graphene

Abstract: Combining mean-field and renormalization group analyses, here we unveil the nature of recently observed superconductivity and parent metallic states in chemically doped rhombohedral trilayer graphene, subject to external electric displacement fields ($D$) [H. Zhou, \emph{et al.}, Nature (London) {\bf 598}, 434 (2021)]. We argue that close to the charge neutrality, on site Hubbard repulsion favors layer antiferromagnet, which when combined with the $D$-field induced layer polarization, produces a spin-polarized, but valley-unpolarized half-metal, conducive to the nucleation of spin-triplet $f$-wave pairing (SC2). At larger doping valence bond order emerges as a prominent candidate for isospin coherent paramagent, boosting condensation of spin-singlet Cooper pairs in the $s$-wave channel (SC1), manifesting a "selection rule" among competing orders. Responses of these paired states to displacement and in-plane magnetic fields show qualitative similarities with experimental observation. With the onset of the quantum anomalous Hall order, the valley degeneracy of half-metal gets lifted, forming a quarter-metal at lower doping [H. Zhou, \emph{et al.}, Nature (London) {\bf 598}, 429 (2021)].