{"record":{"author":{"account_ref":null,"orcid":null},"builds_on":[],"content_schema":"pubphys.content.revision/1","content_sha256":"363d032667aa82b0600afa7ae446cd5803b569a70ad7d7137045f645419cc15d","created":"2026-10-03T07:18:00Z","files":[],"origin":{"assisted_by":[],"kind":"seed"},"parents":["5475cf5dc5b1a72283d26dc95dc6e00d7ea4e00096a7c6492e409a1816eeb011"],"salt":"5e5b392a03819bb8a9e3d2c0bbceed040191f5e8e07472ff61e5e288aa67b059","schema":"pubphys.record/2","site":"pubphys.com","target":null,"type":"revision"},"content":{"answer_type":"mechanism","assisted_by":[],"external_id":"cm.insulator-quantum-oscillations.oscillation-mechanism","kind":"phenomenon","literature_status":"open","n":"1","parents":[],"plain":"Quantum oscillations normally require a sharp boundary between filled and empty electron states, which an insulator lacks. Proposed explanations range from field effects on the insulating gap to new particles that carry no charge.","posed_since":"2015","precise":"Candidates are Landau quantization of hybridized bands with a small inverted gap, which gives magnetization oscillations at the frequency of the unhybridized Fermi surface (Knolle and Cooper 2015); emergent neutral fermions with a Fermi surface (spinons, composite excitons, Majorana Fermi sea); and in-gap impurity bands or metallic inclusions. An answer predicts the frequency, the amplitude temperature dependence including deviations from Lifshitz-Kosevich form, and which quantities oscillate (magnetization, resistivity, heat capacity, thermopower) in SmB6, YbB12 and monolayer WTe2.","problem_ref":null,"references":"","settled_by":"Amplitude versus temperature and gap size in a tunable system (pressure-tuned YbB12, gate-tuned WTe2 or InAs/GaSb wells) where the candidate theories make distinct predictions.","status_note":"","title":"How can an insulator without a Fermi surface show quantum oscillations?","topic_ref":"eeb05b44f8dd47811bcc41ccf7d60e299af30b8c5bed6ef76c910d60049cf726"},"attested":{"attestation":{"batch":null,"client_id":null,"id_token_sha256":null,"kind":"platform"},"record_hash":"8b9193cd375011e2c1597af9a2c658adfc645084080828b1296d7c4c575ec6d7","schema":"pubphys.attested/1"},"envelope":{"attested_hash":"911cfc81fc2ee5b72a1f77e664e7d83818d0cf292f9a1d14657e3a8ed68c354d","platform_signature":{"key_id":"c6afc19b31429869751f06879c75cd64ea92654423d15b44be775bf1310a60da","sig":"oNlH02KI32pwW6h466IiIju2-YII7Lv_JxrFn_H_4l0LfYeo3TVbYsotmts23y59dXVCoPE6i9Q_Uub9TfL-BA"},"schema":"pubphys.envelope/1"},"record_hash":"8b9193cd375011e2c1597af9a2c658adfc645084080828b1296d7c4c575ec6d7","leaf_index":1035}