Quantum Hall effect in graphene: A functional determinant approach

Abstract

We start the paper with a brief presentation of the main characteristics of graphene, and of the Dirac theory of massless fermions in 2+1 dimensions obtained as the associated low-momentum effective theory, in the absence of external fields. We then summarize the main steps needed to obtain the Hall conductivity in the effective theory at finite temperature and density, with emphasis on its dependence on the phase of the Dirac determinant selected during the evaluation of the effective action. Finally, we discuss the behavior, under gauge transformations, of the contribution due to the lowest Landau level, and interpret gauge transformations as rotations of the corresponding spinors around the magnetic field.