Comment on 'Fock-Darwin States of Dirac Electrons in Graphene-Based Artificial Atoms'

Chen, Apalkov, and Chakraborty (Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 186803 (2007)) have computed Fock-Darwin levels of a graphene dot by including only basis states with energies larger than or equal to zero. We show that their results violate the Hellman-Feynman theorem. A correct treatment must include both positive and negative energy basis states. Additional basis states lead to new energy levels in the optical spectrum and anticrossings between optical transition lines.
Comment: 1 page, 1 figure, accepted for publication in PRL