Flavor Quantum Dots and Artificial Quark Model in Transition Metal Dichalcogenides

We show that the triply degenerate Q valleys in few-layer transition metal dichalcogenides provide a unique platform for exploring the rare flavor SU(3) symmetry in quantum dot geometry. The single and double dots are reminiscent of the quark model and eightfold way, and their many-body triplets and octets may be regarded as artificial quarks and hadrons. For the artificial quark transistor, each level hosts one central and two side Coulomb peaks of irrational height ratios, and flavor Kondo effects occur at 1/3 and 2/3 fillings with fractional conductance quantization in the unitary limit.