Zero-field composite Fermi liquid in twisted semiconductor bilayers

Recent experiments have produced evidence for fractional quantum anomalous Hall (FQAH) states at zero magnetic field in the semiconductor moir\'e superlattice system $t$MoTe$_2$. Here we argue that a composite fermion description, already a unifying framework for the phenomenology of 2d electron gases at high magnetic fields, provides a similarly powerful perspective in this new context. To this end, we present exact diagonalization evidence for composite Fermi liquid states at zero magnetic field in $t$MoTe$_2$ at fillings $n=\frac{1}{2}$ and $n=\frac{3}{4}$. We dub these non-Fermi liquid metals anomalous composite Fermi liquids (ACFLs), and we argue that they play a central organizing role in the FQAH phase diagram. We proceed to develop a long wavelength theory for this ACFL state that offers concrete experimental predictions upon doping the composite Fermi sea, including a Jain sequence of FQAH states and a new type of commensurability oscillations originating from the superlattice potential intrinsic to the system.
Comment: Phys. Rev. Lett. journal version. Editors' Suggestion and Featured in Physics. main: 5 pages, 3 figures. SM: 5 pages, 3 figures