Narrow Results

Electron hopping models on the honeycomb lattice are studied. The lattice consists of two triangular sublattices, and it is non-Bravais. The dual space has non-trivial topology. The gauge fields of Bloch electrons have the U(1) symmetry and thus represent superconducting states in the dual space. Two quantized Abrikosov fluxes exist at the Dirac points and have fluxes 2π and -2π, respectively. We define the non-Abelian SO(3) gauge theory in the extended 3d dual space and it is shown that a monopole and anti-monoplole solution is stable. The SO(3) gauge group is broken down to U(1) at the 2d boundary. The Abrikosov fluxes are related to quantized Hall conductance by the topological expression. Based on this, monopole confinement and deconfinement are discussed in relation to time reversal symmetry and QHE. The Jahn–Teller effect is briefly discussed.

Wang–Landau algorithm of Monte Carlo simulation is performed to understand the thermodynamic and magnetic properties of antiferromagnetic Ising model on honeycomb lattice. The internal energy, specific heat, free energy and entropy are calculated to present the thermodynamic behavior. For magnetic property, the magnetization and magnetic susceptibility are discussed at different temperature upon different magnetic field. The antiferromagnetic order is confirmed to be the ground state of the system, and it can be destroyed by a large magnetic field.

Recently, a concept of orthogonal metal has been introduced to reinterpret the disordered state of slave-spin representation in the Hubbard model as an exotic gapped metallic state. We have extended this concept to study the slave-spin representation of Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice. It is found that a novel gapped metallic state coined orthogonal Dirac semimetal is identified. Such state corresponds to the disordered phase of slave-spin and has the same thermal-dynamical and transport properties as Dirac semimetal but its singe-particle excitation is gapped.

We review how broken symmetries affect optical properties in photonic analog of graphene, namely, honeycomb-lattice photonic crystals (PhCs). The spatial symmetry of the honeycomb lattice yields Dirac spectra at Brillouin zone corners without fine tuning of physical parameters. In addition, the "Dirac-mass" gap can be introduced by breaking the time-reversal symmetry and/or the space-inversion symmetry. These two symmetries are closely related to the topology of radiation fields in momentum space, and are linked with nontrivial edge states if the system has edges. We show that an effective Hamiltonian for photon obtained with the aid of group theory predicts a modulation of chiral edge states that are hardly implemented in electronic graphene. Numerical simulation of the honeycomb-lattice PhCs of infinitely-long cylinders, confirms the prediction fairly well.

Magnetic properties of the half-filled Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice, which is a simple model of graphene, are studied using the variational cluster approximation (VCA). We found that the critical interaction strength of a magnetic transition is slightly lower than that of the nonmagnetic metal-to-insulator transition and the magnetic order parameter is already nonnegligible at the latter transition point. Thus, a semi-metallic state becomes a magnetic insulator as the interaction strength increases, and a spin liquid state characterized by a Mott insulator without spontaneously broken spatial or spin symmetry, or a state very close to that is not realized in this system. Both the magnetic and nonmagnetic metal-to-insulator transitions are of the second-order. Our results agree with recent large scale quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations.

Using the coherent potential approximation, we study zero-temperature Mott transition in the half-filled Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice. Although a pseudogap is already present for the non-interacting case, the gap will not occur until the onsite Coulomb repulsion exceeds a critical value U ≈ 3.6t, where t is the hopping integral. When increasing U/t, the density of states at the Fermi energy first goes up gradually from zero and after reaching a maximum it goes down to zero again. Our calculated critical interaction U_C/t is in very good agreement with the ones obtained by quantum Monte Carlo simulation and cluster dynamical mean-field theory.

Searching for spin-liquid states has long been attracting both experimentalists and theorists. In this paper, we review recent density matrix renormalization group studies of the spin-½ XY model on the honeycomb lattice, with first-neighbor (J₁ = 1) and frustrating second-neighbor (J₂ > 0) interactions. For the intermediate frustration regime 0.22 ≲ J₂ ≲ 0.36, there exists a surprising antiferromagnetic Ising phase, with ordered moments pointing along the z-axis, despite the absence of any S_zS_z interactions in the Hamiltonian. Surrounding this phase as a function of J₂ are antiferromagnetic phases with the moments pointing in the xy-plane for small J₂ and a close competition between an xy-plane magnetic collinear phase and a dimer phase for large values of J₂. No spin-liquid phases was found in the XY model even with the third-neighbor (J₃ > 0) interactions.

Within the framework of the fermion-spin theory, the charge transport in the doped Mott insulators on a honeycomb lattice is studied by taking into account the pseudogap effect. It is shown that the conductivity spectrum in the low-doped regime is separated by the pseudogap into a low-energy non-Drude peak followed by a broad mid-infrared band. However, the decrease of the pseudogap with the increase of doping leads to a shift of the position of the mid-infrared band towards the low-energy non-Drude peak, and then the low-energy Drude behavior recovers in the high-doped regime. The combined results of both the doped honeycomb-lattice and square-lattice Mott insulators indicate that the two-component conductivity induced by the pseudogap is a universal feature in the doped Mott insulators.

Unconventional superconductivity on a honeycomb lattice has received increasing interest since the discovery of graphene primarily due to the similarities between materials with a honeycomb lattice and cuprate superconductors. Many theoretical studies have been conducted on superconductivity on a honeycomb lattice, however, a consistent picture is still lacking. In this paper, we have extended the theory of kinetic-energy-driven superconductivity, which has been developed to investigate unconventional superconductivity in cuprate superconductors, to explore superconductivity on a honeycomb lattice within the t-J model. Our results demonstrate that the charge-carrier pair gap parameter with $d_{x^2-y^2}+\mathrm{\text{i}}{d}_{xy}$-wave symmetry exhibits a dome-like shape as a function of doping, with superconductivity emerging at a certain doping concentration and disappearing at high doping levels, similar to what has been observed in cuprate and cobaltate superconductors. Furthermore, the charge-carrier pair gap parameter decreases with increasing the value of $J∕t$ (the ratio between the antiferromagnetic exchange coupling constant and the nearest-neighbor hopping integral), and approaches zero when $J∕t$ reaches a sufficiently large value. This indicates that the antiferromagnetic order will suppress the superconducting state and a sufficiently strong exchange coupling will completely destroy the superconductivity. Taking into account our present results together with the corresponding results of cuprate and cobaltate superconductors, it appears that the dome-like shape of the doping dependence of the charge-carrier pair gap parameter may be a common feature in doped Mott insulators.

There is a classical correspondence between edge-signed plane graphs and link diagrams. Determining component number of links corresponding to plane graphs may be one of the first problems in studying links by using graphs. There has been several early studies in this aspect, for example, the component number of links formed from 2-dimensional square lattices (4⁴) has been determined. In this paper, we determine the component number of links corresponding to 2-dimensional triangular (3⁶) and honeycomb (6³) lattices with free or cyclic boundary condition.

Periodic boundary conditions (PBCs) are a pivotal concept in the treatment of ideal lattices of infinite extent as a finite lattice. Most undergraduate texts that delve into the analytical treatment of lattice dynamics solve the problem in the reciprocal space with an implicit assumption of PBCs. While the traditional approach centered in the reciprocal or $k$-space is elegant for simple one-dimensional lattice structures, the method becomes mathematically cumbersome for more complex lattices with real-world applications, such as a honeycomb lattice involving a $4\times 4$ secular determinant.

In this work, we have explored the solution of lattice dynamics in direct space numerically, by constructing unit cells through an explicit implementation of Born–von Karman PBCs and solving the lattice dynamical equations in the displacement–time domain using the fourth-order Runge–Kutta algorithm. The Fast Fourier Transform technique is then used to obtain the phonon frequency spectrum corresponding to the computed instantaneous displacements. The fidelity of the model is validated by the agreement of the computational results obtained for the phonon spectrum at high symmetry points in the Brillouin zone with the analytical values for the given problem. Initially, the dynamics and the phonon spectrum are explored for monatomic and diatomic linear lattices which serve to act as introductory cases for the approach before investigating the 2D monatomic square and honeycomb lattices using the nearest and next-nearest neighbor approximations. A short-range force constant model employing the central forces and angular forces is used for the monatomic square lattice to account for the interatomic interactions. Our computational approach is expected to be physically more intuitive for a student for visualizing the periodicity of a given lattice and understanding its related dynamics. The approach demonstrates the usage of Born–von Karman PBCs in constructing a unit cell that effectively captures the dynamics of a lattice system, complementing the traditional secular determinant formalism. The work also illustrates an instance of how the computer programming can be used as a tool to empower the students to explore abstract concepts in physics. A honing of programming and computational skills of students enables them to interact with dynamic models in physics and gain deeper insight into the real-world applications of physics principles. Target group of this work is the students and educators at undergraduate level who seek a thorough and didactic comprehension of lattice dynamics.

We consider the 2D Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice, as a model for a single layer graphene sheet in the presence of screened Coulomb interactions. At half filling and weak enough coupling, we compute the free energy, the ground state energy and we construct the correlation functions up to zero temperature in terms of convergent series; analyticity is proved by making use of constructive fermionic renormalization group methods. We show that the interaction produces a modification of the Fermi velocity and of the wave function renormalization without changing the asymptotic infrared properties of the model with respect to the unperturbed non-interacting case; this rules out the possibility of superconducting or magnetic instabilities in the ground state.

In this talk I review recent advances on the understanding of the ground state properties of interacting electrons on the honeycomb lattice. In the case of weak short range interactions, renormalization group methods allowed us to give a complete construction of the ground state of the half-filled system and to prove analyticity in the coupling constant of the thermodynamic functions and of the equilibrium correlations. In the case that the electrons interact with a three-dimensional quantum electromagnetic field, the ground state can be constructed order by order in renormalized perturbation theory, with the n-th order admitting n!-bounds. Ward Identities are needed in order to control the flow of the effective charges. Lorentz invariance is dynamically restored, thanks to lattice gauge invariance. This talk is based on joint work with V. Mastropietro and M. Porta.