Gauge-invariant cutoff for Dirac electron systems with a vector potential

Abstract

The continuum Dirac model with an unbounded energy spectrum is widely used to describe low-energy states in various electron systems, such as graphene, topological insulators, and Weyl semimetals. However, if it is applied to analyze the electromagnetic response of electrons to a vector potential, we often find an unphysical result that breaks gauge invariance. This is an artifact caused by an energy or wavenumber cutoff, which is used to avoid divergence of the response. Here, we propose a modified energy cutoff procedure that preserves the gauge invariance. We use this procedure to calculate the response functions in a two-dimensional massless Dirac electron system. It is shown that the resulting functions properly describe the electromagnetic response in a gauge-invariant manner.