Electron-electron interactions in graphene: Current status and perspectives

Abstract

The problem of electron-electron interactions in graphene is reviewed. Starting from the screening of long-range interactions in these systems, the existence of an emerging Dirac liquid of Lorentz invariant quasiparticles in the weak-coupling regime is discussed, as well as the formation of strongly correlated electronic states in the strong-coupling regime. The analogy and connections between the many-body problem and the Coulomb impurity problem are also analyzed. The problem of the magnetic instability and Kondo effect of impurities and/or adatoms in graphene is also discussed in analogy with classical models of many-body effects in ordinary metals. Lorentz invariance is shown to play a fundamental role and leads to effects that span the whole spectrum, from the ultraviolet to the infrared. The effect of an emerging Lorentz invariance is also discussed in the context of finite size and edge effects as well as mesoscopic physics. The effects of strong magnetic fields in single layers and some of the main aspects of the many-body problem in graphene bilayers are briefly reviewed. In addition to reviewing the fully understood aspects of the many-body problem in graphene, a plethora of interesting issues are shown to remain open, both theoretically and experimentally, and the field of graphene research is still exciting and vibrant. © 2012 American Physical Society.