Heavy Dirac fermions in a graphene/topological insulator hetero-junction

The low energy physics of both graphene and surface states of three-dimensional topological insulators is described by gapless Dirac fermions with linear dispersion. In this work, we predict the emergence of a heavy Dirac fermion in a graphene/topological insulator hetero-junction, where the linear term almost vanishes and the corresponding energy dispersion becomes highly non-linear. By combining {it ab initio} calculations and an effective low-energy model, we show explicitly how strong hybridization between Dirac fermions in graphene and the surface states of topological insulators can reduce the Fermi velocity of Dirac fermions. Due to the negligible linear term, interaction effects will be greatly enhanced and can drive heavy Dirac fermion states into the half quantum Hall state with non-zero Hall conductance.