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Zero-energy vortices in Dirac materials

CA Downing (19694911), ME Portnoi (21847490)

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Abstract

In this brief review, we survey the problem of electrostatic confinement of massless Dirac particles, via a number of exactly solvable one- and two-body models. By considering bound states at zero energy, we present a route to obtain truly discrete states of massless Dirac particles in scalar potentials, circumventing the celebrated Klein tunnelling phenomenon. We also show how the coupling of two ultrarelativistic particles can arise, and discuss its implications for cutting-edge experiments with two-dimensional Dirac materials. Finally, we report an analytic solution of the two-body Dirac-Kepler problem, which may be envisaged to bring about a deeper understanding of critical charge and atomic collapse in mesoscopic Dirac systems.

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What this paper is about

In this brief review, we survey the problem of electrostatic confinement of massless Dirac particles, via a number of exactly solvable one- and two-body models. By considering bound states at zero energy, we present a route to obtain truly discrete states of massless Dirac particles in scalar potentials, circumventing the celebrated Klein tunnelling phenomenon. We also show how the coupling of two ultrarelativistic particles can arise, and discuss its implications for cutting-edge experiments with two-dimensional Dirac materials. Finally, we report an analytic solution of the two-body Dirac-Kepler problem, which may be envisaged to bring about a deeper understanding of critical charge and atomic collapse in mesoscopic Dirac systems.

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OpenAlex reports 14 citations for this work. Citation counts describe recorded attention and do not establish research quality.

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Available abstract

In this brief review, we survey the problem of electrostatic confinement of massless Dirac particles, via a number of exactly solvable one- and two-body models. By considering bound states at zero energy, we present a route to obtain truly discrete states of massless Dirac particles in scalar potentials, circumventing the celebrated Klein tunnelling phenomenon. We also show how the coupling of two ultrarelativistic particles can arise, and discuss its implications for cutting-edge experiments with two-dimensional Dirac materials. Finally, we report an analytic solution of the two-body Dirac-Kepler problem, which may be envisaged to bring about a deeper understanding of critical charge and atomic collapse in mesoscopic Dirac systems.

Key concepts: Massless particle, Helical Dirac fermion, Physics, Dirac (video compression format), Mesoscopic physics, Dirac sea, Dirac equation, Dirac fermion

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