Entropy spikes as a signature of Lifshitz transitions in the Dirac materials

Abstract

We demonstrate theoretically that the characteristic feature of a 2D system undergoing N consequent Lifshitz topological transitions is the occurrence of spikes of entropy per particle s of a magnitude ±ln2/(J − 1/2) with 2 ≤ J ≤ N at low temperatures. We derive a general expression for s as a function of chemical potential, temperature and gap magnitude for the gapped Dirac materials. Inside the smallest gap, the dependence of s on the chemical potential exhibits a dip-and-peak structure in the temperature vicinity of the Dirac point. The spikes of the entropy per particles can be considered as a signature of the Dirac materials. These distinctive characteristics of gapped Dirac materials can be detected in transport experiments where the temperature is modulated in gated structures.