Robustness of edge states in graphene quantum dots

Abstract

We analyze the single particle states at the edges of disordered graphene quantum dots. We show that generic graphene quantum dots support a number of edge states proportional to circumference of the dot over the lattice constant. Our analytical theory agrees well with numerical simulations. Perturbations breaking electron-hole symmetry like next-nearest neighbor hopping or edge impurities shift the edge states away from zero energy but do not change their total amount. We discuss the possibility of detecting the edge states in an antidot array and provide an upper bound on the magnetic moment of a graphene dot.Comment: Added figure 6, extended discussion (version as accepted by Physical Review B