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Title: Importance of σ Bonding Electrons for the Accurate Description of Electron Correlation in Graphene

Journal Article · · Physical Review Letters
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)
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Electron correlation in graphene is unique because of the interplay between the Dirac cone dispersion of π electrons and long-range Coulomb interaction. Because of the zero density of states at Fermi level, the random phase approximation predicts no metallic screening at long distance and low energy, so one might expect that graphene should be a poorly screened system. However, empirically graphene is a weakly interacting semimetal, which leads to the question of how electron correlations take place in graphene at different length scales. Here, we address this question by computing the equal time and dynamic structure factor S(q) and S(q,ω) of freestanding graphene using ab initio fixed-node diffusion Monte Carlo simulations and the random phase approximation. We find that the σ electrons contribute strongly to S(q,ω) for relevant experimental values of ω even at distances up to around 80 Å. These findings illustrate how the emergent physics from underlying Coulomb interactions results in the observed weakly correlated semimetal.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR)
Grant/Contract Number:
FG02-06ER46285; FG02-12ER46875; SC0008692
OSTI ID:
1958825
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1400430
Journal Information:
Physical Review Letters, Vol. 119, Issue 16; ISSN 0031-9007
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 4 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
Graphene
Dielectric properties
Electronic structure
Fermi surface
Plasmons
Semimetals