{"record":{"author":{"account_ref":null,"orcid":null},"builds_on":[],"content_schema":"pubphys.content.revision/1","content_sha256":"a3c3f326c3a155f8f8f86ffeab2fe190ce915a448b2e3aa7199709ee979bcd18","created":"2026-10-03T07:17:59Z","files":[],"origin":{"assisted_by":[],"kind":"seed"},"parents":["5475cf5dc5b1a72283d26dc95dc6e00d7ea4e00096a7c6492e409a1816eeb011"],"salt":"408d326dc096c82207adb3292b001f57a18c90f272fe029f4277193f5759ed77","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":"1","parents":[],"plain":"Monolayer WTe2 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":null,"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 WTe2 an excitonic insulator","topic_ref":"13310cce68b304c2509013709828747f15ee6fa0a56bc1df55089f78b3276365"},"attested":{"attestation":{"batch":null,"client_id":null,"id_token_sha256":null,"kind":"platform"},"record_hash":"d9f036cefe9961b17e034fc4d16dd860fdb3f384f200589a71cbe2293b1d022c","schema":"pubphys.attested/1"},"envelope":{"attested_hash":"27e6a750f5f3c279803eebe3a8f107f92d8cdca4dc1d20f738b3b0f42ef22507","platform_signature":{"key_id":"c6afc19b31429869751f06879c75cd64ea92654423d15b44be775bf1310a60da","sig":"h5k2e2ZlyzeWq3KGLFRJbGaYyTMbx67dK-eVpw6gzZw2m8FQa3e1O5MjkNXQuxTVa8_4tkzVpubv-bfEULZyAw"},"schema":"pubphys.envelope/1"},"record_hash":"d9f036cefe9961b17e034fc4d16dd860fdb3f384f200589a71cbe2293b1d022c","leaf_index":979}