>From Next Big Future: Relativistic physics can be simulated in Graphene and >now researchers believe mass can be created in graphene by compacting >dimensions.<http://arxiv.org/abs/1010.3437> A 10/17/2010 paper Dynamical mass generation via space compactification in graphene<http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1010/1010.3437.pdf> by A. D. Alhaidari1, A. Jellal1,2,3, E. B. Choubabi3 and H. Bahlouli4,1 Based on In the past, the study of relativistic particles has been the exclusive domain of high-energy and particle physics. In graphene, nonetheless, the linear electronic band dispersion near the Dirac points gave rise to charge carriers (electrons or holes) that propagate as if they were massless fermions with speeds of the order of 106 m/s rather than the speed of light 3*108 m/s. Hence, charge carriers in this structure should be described by the massless Dirac equation rather than the usual Schrodinger equation. The physics of relativistic electrons is thus now experimentally accessible in graphenebased solid-state devices, whose behavior differs drastically from that of similar devices fabricated with usual semiconductors. Consequently, new unexpected phenomena have been observed while other phenomena that were well-understood in common semiconductors, such as the quantum Hall effect and weak-localization, exhibited surprising behavior in graphene. Thus, graphene devices enabled the study of relativistic dynamics in controllable nano-electronic circuits (relativistic electrons on-a-chip) and their behavior probes our most basic understanding of electronic processes in solids. It also allowed for the observation of some subtle effects, previously accessible only to high energy physics, such as Klein tunneling and vacuum breakdown.
