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Institut für Theoretische Physik III Forschung |
| Allgemeine Beschreibung des Projektes A5 |
| Project: Mesocopic transport of Dirac fermions | |
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Kontakt:
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Prof. K. Efetov
Theoretische Physik III Ruhr-Universität Bochum Universitätstrasse 150 44780 Bochum Tel.: (02 34) 32 - 2 37 37 Fax: (02 34) 32 - 1 44 48 |
Prof. Dr. Ilya Eremin
Theoretische Physik III Ruhr-Universität Bochum Universitätstrasse 150 44780 Bochum Tel.: (02 34) 32 - 2 66 04 Fax: (02 34) 32 - 1 44 48 |
Zusammenfassung:
Dirac fermions play a crucial role in modern condensed matter physics. Two of
the most exciting recent developments in mesoscopic physics — represented by
graphene monolayers and by the topological insulator (TI) phase of strongly
spin-orbit coupled materials — are characterized by quasi-particles with linear
dispersion that can be described by a two-dimensional (2D) Dirac Hamiltonian at
low energy scales.
A wealth of novel physical phenomena can be anticipated, while at the same time many fundamental questions need to be addressed. For instance, when a TI is contacted by nearby superconductors or ferromagnets, exotic Majorana fermion states can be induced, while the presence of electron-electron or electron-phonon interactions defines new many-body problems awaiting their theoretical (and experimental) investigation. Specifically, we propose to study fundamentally oriented as well as more applied subprojects. The problem of classifying topological insulators when interactions are present will be studied within a mathematics-physics collaboration. We also want to advance the quantum transport theory of interacting Dirac fermions in TI quantum dots and/or graphene dots. Moreover, we plan to analyze the effects of phonons on the conductivity of Dirac surface fermions in a TI, as well as the proximity-induced superconductivity and Majorana zero modes in such materials. We also wish to better understand non-stationary effects in irradiated graphene pn junctions, and we plan to develop a bosonization scheme for Dirac fermions. |
