A supersymmetric model for graphene

Abstract

In this work, we focus on the fermionic structure of the low-energy excitations of graphene (a monolayer of carbon atoms) to propose a new supersymmetric field-theoretic model for this physical system. In the current literature, other proposals for describing graphene physics have been contemplated at the level of supersymmetric quantum mechanics. Also, by observing the inhomogeneities between neighbor carbon atoms, Jackiw {\it et al.} have set up an interesting chiral Abelian gauge theory. We show in this paper that our formulation encompasses models discussed previously as sectors of an actually richer (supersymmetric) planar gauge model. Possible interpretations for the fields involved in the present graphene model are proposed and the question of supersymmetry breaking is discussed.