Alfredo Iorio(Praha):

Probing fundamental physics on graphene: Weyl symmetry, Beltrami pseudosphere, and the Hawking effect

Abstract:

The massless 2+1d Dirac pseudoelectrons, arising in the low energy limit theory governing the electronic properties of graphene, in certain conditions, might experience a general-relativistic (curved spacetime) environment. Hence, Weyl symmetry plays a crucial role: This symmetry, enjoyed in its local form by the system, provides a powerful tool to connect a vast class of spacetimes to the flat one, the latter being the ideal candidate for the lab frame. Along with the specific properties of gravity theories in 2+1d, this suggests a general method to test in the lab whether the exotic scenarios of QFT in curved spacetimes, such as the Hawking/Unruh phenomenon, could indeed take place on graphene. In this talk, I shall focus on recent and on-going work, both theoretical and headed to an experimental proposal. An important part of the latter effort is the identification of a theoretical-problems-free and measurements-friendly specific set-up. The proposed solution is what I call the "Beltrami spacetime", a sort of AdS₃ spacetime, conformal to a Rindler spacetime.

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