Derivation of 2D Dirac Equation from

Graphene Tight-Binding Model

April 5, 2019

The tight-binding hamiltonian of Graphene is

X †
cA (~ri )cB (~ri + ~δ) + c†B (~ri + ~δ)cA (~ri ) (1)
i,~
δ

where ~ri = n1~a +n2~b, ~a and ~b are lattice vectors and ~δ is nearest neighbor vec-
tor on honeycomb structure. The the destruction operator can be expanded
by fourier transform and rewrited as

1 X −i~k·~ri 1 ~
X ~ ~ 1 ~
X ~
cA (ri ) = √ e ck = √ e−iK·~ri e−i(k−K)·~ri ck = √ e−iK·~ri e−i(∆k)·~ri ck
N k N k
N k

where K ~ = ( 3π , √3π ) is one of dirac point. If we expand cA (~ri ) only in the

3a 3 3a
vicinity of dirac point K, we can approximatie cA (~ri ) as

~ 1 X −i(∆k)·~
~ ri ~
cA (~ri ) = e−iK·~ri √ e cA,K+∆k ≈ e−iK·~ri cA,K (r)
N K+∆k
Here, cA,K (r) is a smooth-varing field and the spatial variable r can be
treated as continuous variable ( derivatives are well-defined ) because of the
smallest of ∆k. Furthermore, we can also approximate cB (ri ) as
~
cB (ri ) ≈ e−iK·ri cB,K (r)
Put cA (ri ) and cB (ri ) into the hamiltonian, we will get
XZ ~ ~ ~ ~
H= dre−iK·δ c†A,K (~r)cB,K (~r + ~δ) + eiK·δ c†B,K (~r + ~δ)cA,K (~r)
δ
Z
~ ~
X X ~~ †
= dr{c†A,K (~r)[ e−iK·δ cB,K (~r + ~δ)] + [ eiK·δ cB,K (~r + ~δ)]cA,K (~r)}
δ δ

1
 Using displacement operator, the hamiltonian can be written as
Z
~ ~ ~ ~
X X ~~ ~~
H = dr{c†A,K (~r)[ e−iK·δ eiδ·P ]cB,K (~r) + c†B,K (~r)[ eiK·δ e−iδ·P ]cA,K (~r)}
δ δ

and because the wavelength of smooth-varing field cA/B,K is greater than

a, we can use gradient expansion to expand cA/B,K to 1st order in lattice
constant a.

Z
~ ~ ~ ~
X X
H= dr{c†A,K (~r)[ e−iK·δ (1 +i~δ · P~ )]cB,K (~r) + c†B,K (~r)[ eiK·δ (1 −i~δ · P~ )]cA,K (~r)}
|δ {z } | δ {z }
P −iK˙
~~δ P iK˙
~~δ
=0, δe =0 =0, δe =0

Z
~ ~
X X ~~
= dr{c†A,K (~r)[ e−iK·δ (i~δ · P~ )]cB,K (~r) + c†B,K (~r)[ eiK·δ (−i~δ · P~ )]cA,K (~r)}
δ δ
Z √ √
† 3 3 3 3 3 3
= dr{cA,K (~r)[a( − )∂x − a( + i)∂y ]cB,K (~r)
4 4 4 4
√ √
3 3 3 3 3 3
+c†B,K (~r)[−a( + )∂x + a( − i)∂y ]cA,K (~r)}
4 4 4 4
√ √ !
3 3
a( 34 − − a( 3 4 3 + 34 i)∂y
Z
† 0 4
)∂x
= drψK (r) √ √ ψK (r)
−a( 43 + 3 4 3 )∂x + a( 3 4 3 − 43 i)∂y 0
Z
†
= drψK (r)~σ · ∇ψK (r)

where ψK = (cA,K (r), cB,K (r)), ~σ = (σx , σy )

In first quantization form, ψK (r) obey

−ivF ~σ · ∇ψK (r) = EψK (r)

which is 2D Dirac equation. In the same way, we can derive eqaution for
ψK 0 (r).