Massive photon and fermion mixing as manifestations of an extra discrete dimension in bilayer systems

TL;DR

This paper introduces a geometric framework for bilayer systems with an extra discrete dimension, leading to photon and fermion mixing, mass generation, and potential new physical phenomena in layered materials.

Contribution

It presents a novel geometric approach incorporating an extra discrete dimension to model interlayer interactions and mixing in bilayer systems, revealing new physical effects.

Findings

Mass mixing of fermions due to discrete dimension

Photon and scalar field interactions via Kaluza-Klein modes

Potential for new phenomena in layered materials

Abstract

Discrete dimension is introduced via an extended Dirac operator to include the interlayer interactions in a geometric framework of generic $d+1$-dimensional bilayer systems. The photon and its Kaluza-Klein partners in this extended space-time will involve a pair of vector fields together with a scalar field, which describes a pair of local jumping between the layers. The quartic potential of the scalar field triggers an abelian Higgs mechanism, which gives a mass to one vector field, which describes a short-range interaction. The discrete derivative along the extra dimension generates a non-diagonal mass matrix, whose eigenstates mix the fermions on two layers with a mixing angle. The couplings of the Kaluza-Klein siblings of photon including massless, massive, and scalar ones with the mass eigenstates of fermions will also depend on the mixing angle. Thus interlayer interactions in bilayer systems are manifested elegantly by these new features via the extra discrete dimension. In specific cases, the short-range force, weak and strong coupling regimes of the fermions with different masses can lead to new physical consequences to be discovered in different realistic $2+1$ and $3+1$-dimensional bilayer systems.