Spin and the Honeycomb Lattice: Lessons from Graphene

Matthew Mecklenburg and B. C. Regan
Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 116803 – Published 16 March 2011; Erratum Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 229901 (2011)
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Abstract

A model of electrons hopping from atom to atom in graphene’s honeycomb lattice gives low-energy electronic excitations that obey a relation formally identical to a 2+1 dimensional Dirac equation. Graphene’s spin equivalent, “pseudospin,” arises from the degeneracy introduced by the honeycomb lattice’s two inequivalent atomic sites per unit cell. Previously it has been thought that the usual electron spin and the pseudospin indexing the graphene sublattice state are merely analogues. Here we show that the pseudospin is also a real angular momentum. This identification explains the suppression of electron backscattering in carbon nanotubes and the angular dependence of light absorption by graphene. Furthermore, it demonstrates that half-integer spin like that carried by the quarks and leptons can derive from hidden substructure, not of the particles themselves, but rather of the space in which these particles live.

  • Figure
  • Received 31 October 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.116803

© 2011 American Physical Society

Erratum

Erratum: Spin and the Honeycomb Lattice: Lessons from Graphene [Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 116803 (2011)]

Matthew Mecklenburg and B. C. Regan
Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 229901 (2011)

Authors & Affiliations

Matthew Mecklenburg and B. C. Regan*

  • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
  • California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA

  • *regan@physics.ucla.edu

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Issue

Vol. 106, Iss. 11 — 18 March 2011

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