Engineering SYK interactions in disordered graphene flakes under realistic experimental conditions

TL;DR

This paper models SYK interactions in large disordered graphene flakes under realistic conditions, exploring how boundary irregularities and vacancies can induce SYK-like phases at temperatures above liquid helium.

Contribution

It demonstrates the feasibility of realizing SYK physics in graphene flakes with realistic disorder and magnetic fields, expanding experimental possibilities.

Findings

SYK-like phase can form in disordered graphene under certain conditions

Boundary irregularities and vacancies promote SYK interactions

Phase persists above liquid helium temperature

Abstract

We model SYK (Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev) interactions in disordered graphene flakes up to 300 000 atoms ($\sim$100 nm in diameter) subjected to an out-of-plane magnetic field $B$ of 5-20 Tesla within the tight-binding formalism. We investigate two sources of disorder: (i) irregularities at the system boundaries, and (ii) bulk vacancies, -- for a combination of which we find conditions which could be favorable for the formation of the phase with SYK features under realistic experimental conditions above the liquid helium temperature.