Marginal topological properties of graphene: a comparison with topological insulators

Abstract

The electronic structures of graphene systems and topological insulators have closely related features, such as a quantized Berry phase and zero-energy edge states. The reason for these similarities is that in both systems there are two relevant orbital bands, which generate the pseudo-spin degree of freedom and, less obviously, there is a correspondence between the valley degree of freedom in graphene and electron spin in topological insulators. Despite the similarities, there are also several important differences, both for the bulk topological properties and for their implications for the edge states—primarily due to the fundamental difference between valley and spin. In view of their peculiar band structure features, gapped graphene systems should be properly characterized as marginal topological insulators, distinct from either the trivial insulators or the true topological insulators.