Rayleigh-B\'enard Instability in Graphene

Abstract

Motivated by the observation that electrons in graphene, in the hydrodynamic regime of transport, can be treated as a two-dimensional ultra-relativistic gas with very low shear viscosity, we examine the existence of the Rayleigh-B\'enard instability in a massless electron-hole plasma. Firstly, we perform a linear stability analysis, derive the leading contributions to the relativistic Rayleigh number, and calculate the critical value above which the instability develops. By replacing typical values for graphene, such as thermal conductivity, shear viscosity, temperature, and sample sizes, we find that the instability might be experimentally observed in the near future. Additionally, we have performed simulations for vanishing reduced chemical potential and compare the measured critical Rayleigh number with the theoretical prediction, finding good agreement.