The role of electron-electron interactions in two-dimensional Dirac fermions

TL;DR

This paper investigates how electron-electron interactions affect two-dimensional Dirac fermions, revealing a crossover between a Mott insulator and a semi-metallic state, and explaining experimental observations in graphene.

Contribution

It combines numerical and analytical methods to identify and describe the crossover regimes and explains discrepancies in experimental Fermi velocity measurements.

Findings

Identification of a crossover between Mott insulator and semi-metallic regimes.

Explanation of the observed Fermi velocity enhancement in graphene.

Clarification of substrate-dependent behaviors in graphene experiments.

Abstract

The role of electron-electron interactions on two-dimensional Dirac fermions remains enigmatic. Using a combination of nonperturbative numerical and analytical techniques that incorporate both the contact and long-range parts of the Coulomb interaction, we identify the two previously discussed regimes: a Gross-Neveu transition to a strongly correlated Mott insulator, and a semi-metallic state with a logarithmically diverging Fermi velocity accurately described by the random phase approximation. Most interestingly, experimental realizations of Dirac fermions span the crossover between these two regimes providing the physical mechanism that masks this velocity divergence. We explain several long-standing mysteries including why the observed Fermi velocity in graphene is consistently about 20 percent larger than the best values calculated using ab initio and why graphene on different substrates show different behavior.