Importance of electron-phonon coupling near the electron-liquid to Wigner-crystal transition in two-dimensional atomically thin materials

Motivated by recent experiments on atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), the authors explore here the role of electron-phonon coupling in the location of the fluid-to-liquid transition point of electrons. They highlight that phonons (illustrated as the blue background) can gain more energy when electrons form a Wigner crystal compared to when they are in a liquid state. Their findings demonstrate that this effect significantly affects TMDs and other atomically thin materials, while its impact remains negligible in quantum wells. This is consistent with previous experimental results.