Gap generation and phase diagram in strained graphene in a magnetic field

Abstract

The gap equation for Dirac quasiparticles in monolayer graphene in constant magnetic and pseudomagnetic fields, where the latter is due to strain, is studied in a low-energy effective model with contact interactions. Analyzing solutions of the gap equation, the phase diagram of the system in the plane of pseudomagnetic and parallel magnetic fields is obtained in the approximation of the lowest Landau level. The three quantum Hall states, ferromagnetic, antiferromagnetic, and canted antiferromagnetic, are realized in different regions of the phase diagram. It is found that the structure of the phase diagram is sensitive to signs and values of certain four-fermion interaction couplings which break the approximate spin-value SU(4) symmetry of the model.