Coulomb impurities in graphene driven by fast ions

Abstract: We provide a theoretical model for electronic transitions in a two-dimensional (2D) artificial atom in a graphene monolayer. The artificial atom is due to the presence of a charged adatom (Coulomb impurity) in the layer and interacts with a fast ultrarelativistic ion moving parallel to the layer. We compute the probability and cross sections for the corresponding electronic transitions by means of an exact solution of the time-dependent 2D Dirac equation describing the interaction of the planar atom with the electromagnetic field of the ultrarelativistic projectile.