Chiral symmetry restoration in monolayer graphene induced by Kekule distortion

TL;DR

This paper proposes a mechanism for restoring chiral symmetry in monolayer graphene through Kekule lattice distortion, analyzed via a lattice gauge theory model, revealing a phase transition linked to spectral gap changes.

Contribution

It introduces a novel chiral symmetry restoration mechanism in graphene using Kekule distortion, modeled analytically with lattice gauge theory.

Findings

Chiral symmetry can be restored in graphene via Kekule distortion.

A phase transition is identified related to spectral gap changes.

Analytical model links lattice distortion to symmetry restoration.

Abstract

We propose a chiral symmetry restoration mechanism in monolayer graphene, in analogy with the strongly coupled gauge theory. The chiral (sublattice) symmetry of graphene, which is spontaneously broken under the effectively strong Coulomb interaction, is restored by introducing the Kekule-patterned lattice distortion externally. Such a phase transition is investigated analytically by the lattice gauge theory model with the original honeycomb lattice structure. We discuss the relation between the chiral phase transition and the spectral gap amplitude.