Date of Award
2021
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Natural Sciences
First Advisor
Colladay, Donald
Area of Concentration
Physics
Abstract
Weyl semimetals are a class of semimetals that have attracted significant attention among solid state physicists in recent years. Degeneracy in the band structure in conjunction with certain types of symmetry violation give rise to excitations that can be described as relativistic massless fermions, called Weyl fermions. When the Hamiltonian has a large kinetic component, the dispersion bands are strongly tilted and violate Lorentz symmetry. First theorized in 1937, Weyl semimetals were only discovered experimentally in 2015, but many of their theorized properties have since been confirmed. In addition to their unusual and exciting physical properties, Weyl semimetals present an excellent opportunity to study high-energy physics in an easily constructed setting.
Recommended Citation
Gill, Adam, "SYMMETRY VIOLATIONS, TOPOLOGY, AND PROPERTIES OF WEYL SEMIMETALS" (2021). Theses & ETDs. 6060.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/6060