Fate of Dirac Points in a Vortex Superlattice

Abstract

We consider noninteracting fermions on the honeycomb lattice in the presence of a magnetic vortex superlattice. It is shown that depending on the superlattice periodicity, a gap may open at zero energy. We derive an expression of the gap in the small-flux limit but the main qualitative features are found to be valid for arbitrary fluxes. This study provides an original example of a metal-insulator transition induced by a strongly modulated magnetic field in graphene. At the same time our results directly apply to Kitaev's honeycomb model in a vortex superlattice.