Chiral gauge theory for the graphene edge

Solid State Communications, 2009

There are two types of edge states in graphene with/without magnetic field. One is a quantum Hall edge state, which is topologically protected against small perturbation. The other is a chiral zero mode that is localized near the boundary with/without magnetic field. The latter is also topological but is guaranteed to be zero energy by the chiral symmetry, which is also responsible for massless Dirac like dispersion. Conceptual roles of the edge states are stressed and reviewed from a view point of the bulk-edge correspondence and the topological order.

Physical Review B, 2008

While usual edge states in the quantum Hall effect(QHE) reside between adjacent Landau levels, QHE in graphene has a peculiar edge mode at E = 0 that reside right within the n = 0 Landau level as protected by the chiral symmetry. We have theoretically studied the edge states to show that the E = 0 edge mode, despite being embedded in the bulk Landau level, does give rise to a wave function whose charge is accumulated along zigzag edges. This property, totally outside continuum models, implies that the graphene QHE harbors edges distinct from ordinary QHE edges with their topological origin. In the charge accumulation the bulk states redistribute their charge significantly, which may be called a topological compensation of charge density. The real space behavior obtained here should be observable in an STM imaging.

Physics Reports-Review Section of Physics Letters, 2010

The physics of graphene is acting as a bridge between quantum field theory and condensed matter physics due to the special quality of the graphene quasiparticles behaving as massless two dimensional Dirac fermions. Moreover, the particular structure of the 2D crystal lattice sets the arena to study and unify concepts from elasticity, topology and cosmology. In this paper we analyze these connections combining a pedagogical, intuitive approach with a more rigorous formalism when required.

Physical Review B, 2011

Dirac electrons in finite graphene samples with zigzag edges under high magnetic fields (in the regime of Landau-level formation) are investigated with regard to their bulk-type and edge-type character. We employ tight-binding calculations on finite graphene flakes (with various shapes) to determine the sublattice components of the electron density in conjunction with analytic expressions (via the parabolic cylinder functions) of the relativistic-electron spinors that solve the continuous Dirac-Weyl equation for a semi-infinite graphene plane. Away from the sample edge, the higher Landau levels are found to comprise exclusively electrons of bulk-type character (for both sublattices); near the sample edge, these electrons are described by edge-type states similar to those familiar from the theory of the integer quantum Hall effect for nonrelativistic electrons. In contrast, the lowest (zero) Landau level contains relativistic Dirac electrons of a mixed bulk-edge character without an analog in the nonrelativistic case. It is shown that such mixed bulk-edge states maintain also in the case of a square flake with combined zigzag and armchair edges. Implications for the manybody correlated-electron behavior (relating to the fractional quantum Hall effect) in finite graphene samples are discussed.

Physical Review B, 2009

By combining analytic and numerical methods, edge states on a finite width graphene ribbon in a magnetic field are studied in the framework of low-energy effective theory that takes into account the possibility of quantum Hall ferromagnetism (QHF) gaps and dynamically generated Dirac-like masses. The analysis is done for graphene ribbons with both zigzag and armchair edges. The characteristic features of the spectrum of the edge states in both these cases are described. In particular, the conditions for the existence of the gapless edge states are established. Implications of these results for the interpretation of recent experiments are discussed.

A single atomic layer of carbon, graphene, has the low-energy "relativistic-like" gapless quasiparticle excitations which in the continuum approximation are described by quantum electrodynamics in 2+1 dimensions. The Diraclike character of charge carriers in graphene leads to several unique electronic properties which are important for applications in electronic devices. We study the gap opening in graphene following the ideas put forward by P. I. Fomin for investigation of chiral symmetry breaking and particle mass generation in quantum field theory.

Physical Review B, 2008

Motivated by recent experiments and a theoretical analysis of the gap equation for the propagator of Dirac quasiparticles, we assume that the physics underlying the recently observed removal of sublattice and spin degeneracies in graphene in a strong magnetic field is connected with the generation of both Dirac masses and spin gaps. The consequences of such a scenario for the existence of the gapless edge states with zigzag and armchair boundary conditions are discussed. In the case of graphene on a half-plane with a zigzag edge, there are gapless edge states in the spectrum only when the spin gap dominates over the mass gap. In the case of an armchair edge, however, the existence of the gapless edge states depends on the specific type of mass gaps.

Journal of Physics: …, 2008

The low energy excitations of graphene can be described by a massless Dirac equation in two spacial dimensions. Curved graphene is proposed to be described by coupling the Dirac equation to the corresponding curved space. This covariant formalism gives rise to an effective hamiltonian with various extra terms. Some of them can be put in direct correspondence with more standard tight binding or elasticity models while others are more difficult to grasp in standard condensed matter approaches. We discuss this issue, propose models for singular and regular curvature and describe the physical consequences of the various proposals.

Physica E: Low-dimensional Systems and Nanostructures, 2004

Two-dimensional graphite sheets with a certain type of edges are known to support boundary states localized near the edges. Forming a flat band with a sharp peak in the density of states at the Fermi energy, they can trigger a magnetic instability or a distortion of the lattice in the presence of electron-electron or electron-phonon interactions. We shall discuss a relationship between chiral symmetry, which is the origin of the zero-energy edge states, and several types of induced orders such as spin density waves or lattice distortions. We also investigate electron correlation effects on the edge states for a wrapped quasi one-dimensional geometry, i.e., carbon nanotube, by means of the renormalization group and the open boundary bosonization.

Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 2011

Topological aspects of graphene are reviewed focusing on the massless Dirac fermions with/without magnetic field. Doubled Dirac cones of graphene are topologically protected by the chiral symmetry. The quantum Hall effect of the graphene is described by the Berry connection of a manybody state by the filled Landau levels which naturally possesses non-Abelian gauge structures. A generic principle of the topologically non trivial states as the bulk-edge correspondence is applied for graphene with/without magnetic field and explain some of the characteristic boundary phenomena of graphene. 1