Power law Kohn anomaly in undoped graphene induced by Coulomb interactions

Abstract

Phonon dispersions generically display non-analytic points, known as Kohn anomalies, due to electron-phonon interactions. We analyze this phenomenon for a zone boundary phonon in undoped graphene. When electron-electron interactions with coupling constant $\beta$ are taken into account, one observes behavior demonstrating that the electrons are in a critical phase: the phonon dispersion and lifetime develop power law behavior with $\beta$ dependent exponents. The observation of this signature would allow experimental access to the critical properties of the electron state, and would provide a measure of its proximity to an excitonic insulating phase.