This article reviews the basic theoretical aspects of graphene, a one-atom-thick allotrope of carbon, with unusual two-dimensional Dirac-like electronic excitations. The Dirac electrons can be controlled by application of external electric and magnetic fields, or by altering sample geometry and/or topology. The Dirac electrons behave in unusual ways in tunneling, confinement, and the integer quantum Hall effect. The electronic properties of graphene stacks are discussed and vary with stacking order and number of layers. Edge (surface) states in graphene depend on the edge termination (zigzag or armchair) and affect the physical properties of nanoribbons. Different types of disorder modify the Dirac equation leading to unusual spectroscopic and transport properties. The effects of electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions in single layer and multilayer graphene are also presented.

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The electronic properties of graphene

Topological insulators are new states of quantum matter which cannot be adiabatically connected to conventional insulators and semiconductors. They are characterized by a full insulating gap in the bulk and gapless edge or surface states which are protected by time-reversal symmetry. These topological materials have been theoretically predicted and experimentally observed in a variety of systems, including HgTe quantum wells, BiSb alloys, and Bi2Te3 and Bi2Se3 crystals. Theoretical models, materials properties, and experimental results on two-dimensional and three-dimensional topological insulators are reviewed, and both the topological band theory and the topological field theory are discussed. Topological superconductors have a full pairing gap in the bulk and gapless surface states consisting of Majorana fermions. The theory of topological superconductors is reviewed, in close analogy to the theory of topological insulators.

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Topological insulators and superconductors

http://cds.cern.ch/record/348731/files/9803315.pdf

The Hierarchy problem and new dimensions at a millimeter

It is shown that 2+1 dimensional quantum Yang-Mills theory, with an action consisting purely of the Chern-Simons term, is exactly soluble and gives a natural framework for understanding the Jones polynomial of knot theory in three dimensional terms. In this version, the Jones polynomial can be generalized fromS
3 to arbitrary three manifolds, giving invariants of three manifolds that are computable from a surgery presentation. These results shed a surprising new light on conformal field theory in 1+1 dimensions.

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Quantum field theory and the Jones polynomial

Topological quantum computation has emerged as one of the most exciting approaches to constructing a fault-tolerant quantum computer. The proposal relies on the existence of topological states of matter whose quasiparticle excitations are neither bosons nor fermions, but are particles known as non-Abelian anyons, meaning that they obey non-Abelian braiding statistics. Quantum information is stored in states with multiple quasiparticles, which have a topological degeneracy. The unitary gate operations that are necessary for quantum computation are carried out by braiding quasiparticles and then measuring the multiquasiparticle states. The fault tolerance of a topological quantum computer arises from the nonlocal encoding of the quasiparticle states, which makes them immune to errors caused by local perturbations. To date, the only such topological states thought to have been found in nature are fractional quantum Hall states, most prominently the $\ensuremath{\nu}=5∕2$ state, although several other prospective candidates have been proposed in systems as disparate as ultracold atoms in optical lattices and thin-film superconductors. In this review article, current research in this field is described, focusing on the general theoretical concepts of non-Abelian statistics as it relates to topological quantum computation, on understanding non-Abelian quantum Hall states, on proposed experiments to detect non-Abelian anyons, and on proposed architectures for a topological quantum computer. Both the mathematical underpinnings of topological quantum computation and the physics of the subject are addressed, using the $\ensuremath{\nu}=5∕2$ fractional quantum Hall state as the archetype of a non-Abelian topological state enabling fault-tolerant quantum computation.

Non-Abelian Anyons and Topological Quantum Computation

We consider models in which nonrelativistic matter fields interact with gauge fields whose dynamics are governed by the Chern-Simons term. The relevant equations of motion are derived and reduced dimensionally in time or in space. Interesting solitonic equations emerge and their solutions are described. Finally, we consider a Chern-Simons term in three-dimensional Euclidean space, reduced by spherical symmetry, and we discuss its effect on monopole and instanton solutions.

Dimensionally Reduced Chern-Simons Terms and their Solitons

These days, as high energy particle colliders become unavailable for testing speculative theoretical ideas, physicists are looking to other environments that may provide extreme conditions where theory confronts physical reality. One such circumstance may arise at high temperature $T$, which perhaps can be attained in heavy ion collisions or in astrophysical settings. It is natural therefore to examine the high-temperature behavior of the standard model, and here I shall report on recent progress in constructing the high-$T$ limit of~QCD.

Screening in High-T QCD

Solutions to a scalar-tensor (dilaton) quantum gravity theory, interacting with quantized matter, are described. Dirac quantization is frustrated by quantal anomalies in the constraint algebra. Progress is made only after the Wheeler--DeWitt equation is modified by quantal terms, which eliminate the anomaly. More than one modification is possible, resulting in more than one `physical' spectrum in the quantum theory, corresponding to the given classical model.

Solutions to a Quantal Gravity-Matter Field Theory on a Line

Remarks concerning the possibility of finite charge renormalization in spinor electrodynamics

Electromagnetic fields of a massless charged particle are described by a gauge potential that is almost everywhere pure gauge. Solution of quantum mechanical wave equations in the presence of such fields is therefore immediate and leads to a new derivation of the quantum electrodynamical eikonal approximation. The elctromagnetic action in the eikonal limit is localised on a contour in a two-dimensional Minkowski subspace of four-dimensional space-time. The exact S-matrix of this reduced theory coincides with the eikonal approximation, and represents the generalisatin to electrodynamics of the approach of 't Hooft and the Verlinde's to Planckian scattering.

Roman Jackiw

Papers

Dimensionally Reduced Chern-Simons Terms and their Solitons

Screening in High-T QCD

Solutions to a Quantal Gravity-Matter Field Theory on a Line

Remarks concerning the possibility of finite charge renormalization in spinor electrodynamics

Electromagnetic fields of a massless particle and the eikonal