Revivals, classical periodicity, and zitterbewegung of electron currents in monolayer graphene

TL;DR

This paper investigates how electron currents in monolayer graphene exhibit revivals, classical periodicity, and zitterbewegung under magnetic fields, revealing complex quantum behaviors and their temporal relationships.

Contribution

It demonstrates the occurrence of current revivals, zitterbewegung, and classical motion in graphene electrons, analyzing their interplay and temporal scales in different Landau level populations.

Findings

Revivals of electron currents occur in graphene under magnetic fields.

Zitterbewegung appears when both positive and negative energy levels are populated.

Temporal scales of revivals, zitterbewegung, and classical motion are related.

Abstract

Revivals of electric current in graphene in the presence of an external magnetic field are described. It is shown that when the electrons are prepared in the form of wave packets assuming a Gaussian population of only positive (or negative) energy Landau levels, the presence of the magnetic field induce revivals of the electron currents, besides the classical cyclotron motion. When the population comprises both positive and negative energy Landau levels, revivals of the electric current manifest simultaneously with zitterbewegung and the classical cyclotron motion. We relate the temporal scales of these three effects and discuss to what extent these results hold for real graphene samples.