Interaction Induced Quantum Valley Hall Effect in Graphene

Abstract

We use Pseudo Quantum Electrodynamics (PQED) in order to describe the full electromagnetic interaction of the p-electrons of graphene in a consistent 2D formulation. We first consider the effect of this interaction in the vacuum polarization tensor or, equivalently, in the current correlator. This allows us to obtain the dc conductivity after a smooth zero-frequency limit is taken in Kubo's formula.Thereby, we obtain the usual expression for the minimal conductivity plus corrections due to the interaction that bring it closer to the experimental value. We then predict the onset of an interaction-driven spontaneous Quantum Valley Hall effect (QVHE) below a critical temperature of the order of $0.05$ K. The transverse (Hall) valley conductivity is evaluated exactly and shown to coincide with the one in the usual Quantum Hall effect. Finally, by considering the effects of PQED, we show that the electron self-energy is such that a set of P- and T- symmetric gapped electron energy eigenstates are dynamically generated, in association with the QVHE.