Evolution and dimensional crossover from the bulk subbands in ABC-stacked graphene to a three-dimensional Dirac cone structure in rhombohedral graphite

Abstract

The band structure of ABC-stacked N-layer graphene comprises topologically corresponding flat surface and gapped bulk subbands, as a consequence of the unique stacking configuration. In this paper, the bulk subbands are for the first times ever obtained for arbitrary N. A non-perturbative effective Hamiltonian closed in the bulk subspace is derived and used. The gapped bulk subbands are shown to evolve towards the zero energy with increasing N and in the infinite limit, they touch linearly along a circle. This outcome is a manifestation of the dimensional crossover to a three-dimensional Dirac cone structure known to exist in the bulk of rhombohedral graphite. The Dirac points, forming continuous nodal lines in a spiraling fashion, are projected onto the circle, within which the surface subbands are confined and flatten.