Chiral sound waves in strained Weyl semimetals

We show that a strained wire of a Weyl semimetal supports a new type of gapless excitation, the chiral sound wave (CSW). It is a longitudinal charge density wave analog to the chiral magnetic wave predicted in the quark-gluon plasma but driven by an elastic axial pseudo-magnetic field. It involves the axial-axial-axial contribution to the chiral anomaly which couples the chiral charge density to the elastic axial gauge field. The chiral sound is unidirectional: it propagates along the elastic magnetic field and not in the opposite direction. The CSW may propagate for long distances as it does not couple directly to quickly dissipating electromagnetic plasmons, while its damping is controlled by the slow chirality flip rate. We propose an experimental setup to directly detect the chiral sound, which is excited by mechanical vibrations of the crystal lattice in the GHz frequency range. Our findings contribute to a new trend, the chiral acoustics, in strained Weyl semimetals.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures; v2: minor changes, published versio

Gauge fields in graphene

The physics of graphene is acting as a bridge between quantum field theory and condensed matter physics due to the special quality of the graphene quasiparticles behaving as massless two dimensional Dirac fermions. Moreover, the particular structure of the 2D crystal lattice sets the arena to study and unify concepts from elasticity, topology and cosmology. In this paper we analyze these connections combining a pedagogical, intuitive approach with a more rigorous formalism when required.Comment: Update of the manuscript published on-line in Physics Reports. 43 pages, 18 figure

Renormalization group analysis of electrons near a Van Hove singularity.

A model of interacting two dimensional electrons near a Van Hove singularity is studied, using renormalization group techniques. In hole doped systems, the chemical potential is found to be pinned near the singularity, when the electron-electron interactions are repulsive. The RG treatment of the leading divergences appearing in perturbation theory give rise to marginal behavior and anisotropic superconductivity.Comment: 4 Latex pages + 5 postcript figure

Electrostatic screening in fullerene molecules

The screening properties of fullerene molecules are described by means of a continuum model which uses the electronic wavefunctions of planar graphite as a starting point. The long distance behavior of the system gives rise to a renormalizable theory, which flows towards a non trivial fixed point. Its existence implies an anomalous dielectric constant. The screening properties are neither metallic nor insulating. Alternatively, the intramolecular screening is obtained from a simple approximation to the electronic wavefunctions. Intermolecular effects are also calculated. As a consistency check, it is shown that the observed polarizability of C$_{60}$ is well eproduced.Comment: 7 pages. Revte

Long-range-correlated disorder in graphene

We study transport of two-dimensional quasi-relativistic electronic excitations in graphene in the presence of static long-range-correlated random scalar and vector potentials. Using a combination of perturbation theory and path-integral techniques, we estimate scattering rates which control Drude conductivity, magneto-transport, and Friedel oscillations in the ballistic regime of large quasiparticle energies. We also discuss properties of zero-energy states and pertinent localization scenarios.Comment: 4 pages, Latex, no figure

Transverse transport in graphite

Graphite is a layered material showing a strong anisotropy. Among the unconventional properties reported by experiments, the electronic transport along the c-axis, which has direct implications in order to build graphitic devices, remains a controversial topic. We study the influence of inelastic scattering on the electron tunnelling between layers. In the presence of electron electron interactions, tunnelling processes are modified by inelastic scattering events.Comment: 9 pages, no figures Proceedings of the Graphene Conference, MPI PKS Dresden, September 200