2001/06/30 by D. V. Khveshchenko · 2 citations
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Crystallography and Radiation Phenomena #Graphene research and applications #Topological Materials and Phenomena #cond-mat
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.87.206401
published as published in Physical Review Letters, v.87, p.206401 (2001)
openalex publication_date 2001/10/24 · arxiv created 2001/12/11 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We propose an explanation for the apparent semimetal-insulator transition observed in highly oriented pyrolitic graphite in the presence of magnetic field perpendicular to the layers. We show that the magnetic field opens an excitonic gap in the linear spectrum of the Coulomb interacting quasiparticles, in close analogy with the phenomenon of dynamical chiral symmetry breaking in the relativistic theories of the (2+1)-dimensional Dirac fermions. Our strong-coupling approach allows for a nonperturbative description of the corresponding critical behavior.