https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2007-00233-5
Topological aspects of graphene
Dirac fermions and the bulk-edge correspondence in magnetic fields
1
Department of Applied Physics, University of Tokyo, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, 113, Tokyo, Japan
2
Department of Mathematical Sciences, Ibaraki University, 310-8512, Mito, Japan
3
Department of Physics, University of Tokyo, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, 113, Tokyo, Japan
Topological aspects of the electronic properties of graphene, including edge effects, with the tight-binding model on a honeycomb lattice and its extensions to show the following: (i) Presence of the pair of massless Dirac dispersions, which is the origin of anomalous properties including a peculiar quantum Hall effect (QHE), is not accidental to honeycomb, but is generic for a class of two-dimensional lattices that interpolate between square and π-flux lattices. Topological stability guarantees persistence of the peculiar QHE. (ii) While we have the massless Dirac dispersion only around E=0, the anomalous QHE associated with the Dirac cone unexpectedly persists for a wide range of the chemical potential. The range is bounded by van Hove singularities, at which we predict a transition to the ordinary fermion behaviour accompanied by huge jumps in the QHE with a sign change. (iii) We establish a coincidence between the quantum Hall effect in the bulk and the quantum Hall effect for the edge states, which is another topological effect. We have also explicitly shown that the E=0 edge states in honeycomb in zero magnetic field persist in magnetic field. (iv) We have also identified a topological origin of the fermion doubling in terms of the chiral symmetry.
© EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag, 2007
