Strongly correlated systems on geometrically frustrated lattices can stabilize a large number of interesting phases that includes a wide array of novel Mott insulators in both bosonic and electronic systems. Charge fluctuations in a Mott insulator are suppressed due to strong mutual interaction among the particles. The presence of frustration is of particular importance as the physics it offers is often rich, unexpectedly complicated, and continues to raise many open questions. The thesis elucidates some of these issues on a kagome lattice where strong interactions among the particles in the Mott phase impose non-trivial local constraints depending on the filling fraction on the lattice. These Mott insulators, in addition to featuring unusual magnetic and/or charge ordering, can also harbor topologically ordered states of quantum matter, e.g., resonating valence bond liquids realized in certain quantum dimer models on non-bipartite lattices. The dimer models can be regarded as low-energy effective theories for different types of bosonic models in the strong-coupling limit. Exploring this connection is a central theme of this thesis with the aim of realizing novel strongly correlated ground states. Past studies of these models have revealed the existence of various ordered and disordered phases with distinct signatures. Among these low-energy phases, the presence of a stable topological liquid at a particular point, known as Rokhsar-Kivelson point, in the phase diagram is notable. The classical versions of the dimer model are also known to have garnered a vast interest in various fields ranging from problems of pure mathematical origin to ones in physical chemistry as well as statistical physics. Pioneered by Kasteleyn, several analytical works came forward to exactly calculate the partition function of the problem from which other physical observables can be derived. Classical numerical methods are extensively applied to these models to verify the analytical predictions. We introduce a new classical algorithm here to compute the correlation functions of a classical dimer model on a square (bipartite) and a triangular (non-bipartite) lattice based on a tensor network construction. The method, called tensor network renormalization group, turns out to be a powerful tool for simulating short-ranged gapped systems as inferred from our results benchmarked against the classical Monte-Carlo technique and compared with past analytical studies. One should note that the quantum dimer model at the Rokhsar-Kivelson point can also be described as an infinite temperature canonical ensemble of classical dimers because of the particular structure of the ground state which is an equal weight superposition in the configuration manifold. The geometry of the lattice plays a pivotal role in deciding the nature of the phases that arise in the dimer models. Many physical properties of the dimer liquid phase can be extracted in the simple classical setting which certainly allows for a deep understanding of the classical models to be developed. The liquid phase is gapped on non-bipartite lattices and gapless on bipartite lattices, which is reflected in the decay of correlation functions with spatial distances. In general on non-bipartite lattices, the topological nature of the dimer liquid is characterized by a Z2 topological order which survives even when the model is perturbed away from the Rokhsar-Kivelson point. Stability of this liquid phase not only depends on the lattice geometries but notably on dimer concentrations also. In this context, we focus on a particular variant of the dimer model on a triangular lattice which is known as the quantum fully packed loop model. The model is composed of nonintersecting closed loops made of dimers and governed by the same Hamiltonian as the quantum dimer model. The loop model provides an effective low-energy description of a strongly correlated bosonic system at 1/3 filling on the kagome lattice. The corresponding Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian consists of nearest-neighbor hopping and all possible repulsive interactions within a hexagonal plaquette. Conspicuous features of the zero-temperature phase diagram for this model include (i) presence of a stable Z2 liquid even without any Rokhsar-Kivelson potential term (in distinction to the standard quantum dimer model), and (ii) an unconventional phase transition from the liquid phase to a novel crystalline phase that has nematic order (dubbed lattice nematic). For a deeper understanding of the physics, a mapping to an Ising gauge theory is presented. The gauge theoretic description provides a useful way to predict the nature of the quantum phase transition to lie in the O(3) universality class. Finally a fermionic model at the same 1/3 filling is considered in which the ground state exhibits a number of exotic local orderings resulting from the spin-charge interplay of electrons. The Hamiltonian comprises nearest-neighbor hopping, strong on-site Coulomb interaction, and repulsive interaction terms only between nearest-neighbors. In the strong correlation limit, this fermionic problem maps to a two-color fully packed loop model – a model in which the loop segments carry an additional quantum number as color on a honeycomb lattice. The effective theory is governed by coherent three-particle ring exchanges and nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic spin exchanges. The competition between these two leads to a phase diagram composed of a novel plaquette ordered state (known as the plaquette phase) that undergoes phase transition to a new kind of charge ordered state which we call a short loop phase. From our numerical analysis, we conclude that the plaquette phase features an unusual antiferromagnetic order with gapless spin excitations while the charge-ordered state is subjugated by spin fluctuations of localized electrons arranged in small hexagonal loops on the kagome lattice.

Die Dynamik anfänglich aus dem Gleichgewicht gebrachter wechselwirkender Quantenvielteilchensysteme wirft aktuell noch spannende Fragen auf. In Bezug auf die Thermalisierung ist z.B. nach wie vor ungeklärt, in welcher Form sie überhaupt stattfindet und in welchen Observablen bzw. auf welcher Zeitskala sie zu beobachten ist. Eine ideale Grundlage zur Erforschung von Relaxationsdynamiken in wechselwirkenden Vielteilchensystemen bieten ultrakalte Quantengase aufgrund ihrer guten Kontrollier- und Variierbarkeit. Ein allgemeiner theoretischer Rahmen, auf dessen Basis solche Prozesse zu untersuchen sind, steht jedoch infolge der großen Anzahl der beteiligten Freiheitsgrade bisher nicht zur Verfügung. Für ultrakalte bosonische Gase stellt die Gross-Pitaevskii-Gleichung eines der wichtigsten theoretischen Werkzeuge dar, eine klassische Feldgleichung für die Kondensatwellenfunktion in Molekularfeldnäherung. Die ihr zugrunde liegende Näherung erlaubt jedoch keine nicht-trivialen Aussagen über den vollen N-Teilchenzustand, dessen Kenntnis für die Untersuchung einer möglichen Relaxationsdynamik unabdingbar ist. Um der theoretischen Beschreibung des vollen bosonischen Feldes einen Schritt näher zu kommen, untersucht die vorliegende Arbeit die Anwendung semiklassischer Methoden auf ultrakalte Bosegase. Diese sind in der Regel dann sehr genau, wenn die beteiligten Wirkungen groß gegenüber dem Planckschen Wirkungsquantum sind. Für bosonische Felder wird dieser Grenzfall durch die Bedingung einer großen Teilchenzahl ersetzt. Die immense Anzahl an Teilchen in den hier behandelten Vielteilchensystemen macht die Anwendung semiklassischer Methoden auf diesem Gebiet also vielversprechend. Als zentrales Modellsystem wird ein anfänglich aus dem Gleichgewicht gebrachtes ultrakaltes bosonisches Doppelmuldensystem betrachtet, das eine hochinteressante Dynamik aufweist, die auf das Wechselspiel der Tunneldynamik einerseits und der Wechselwirkung der Teilchen untereinander andererseits zurückzuführen ist. Als Referenz lassen sich aufgrund der speziellen Fallengeometrie im Rahmen der Zwei-Moden-Näherung die Ergebnisse einer numerisch exakten Untersuchung heranziehen. Durch den Einsatz der namhaften WKB-Quantisierung und des besonders aus der Molekülphysik bekannten Reflexionsprinzips wird hier ein geschlossener analytischer Ausdruck für die sogenannte Populationsdifferenz im Doppelminimum hergeleitet, der ausschließlich von den wenigen relevanten Systemparametern abhängt. Diese mächtige Formel erlaubt es nun zum ersten Mal, in quantitativer Weise die charakteristische Sequenz aus Oszillationen, Kollapsen und Revivals in Abhängigkeit der vorausgesetzten Parameter zu untersuchen. Nach dieser ersten erfolgreichen Anwendung semiklassischer Methoden im Modellsystem wird über die reduzierte Dynamik der Populationsdifferenz hinausgegangen. Mithilfe des semiklassischen Herman-Kluk-Propagators lässt sich selbst der volle N-Teilchenzustand untersuchen. Da es letztlich um die Beschreibung ultrakalter Bosonen in beliebigen Potentialen gehen soll, wird zunächst der Herman-Kluk-Propagator für eine Feldtheorie vorgestellt. Im Doppelmuldensystem zeigt sich dann in der Anwendung die semiklassische Propagation in der Lage, für alle untersuchten Parameterregime gute Übereinstimmung mit den numerisch exakten Ergebnissen zu liefern. Zusätzlich findet ein Abgleich der Resultate mit der Truncated Wigner Approximation statt, auf die im Forschungsgebiet ultrakalter Bosonen häufig zurück gegriffen wird. Diese beschreibt die Zeitentwicklung einer Wignerverteilung unter Aussparung der Quanteninterferenzen. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird gezeigt, dass die Herman-Kluk-Propagation unter Berücksichtigung der Phasen weit über die Truncated Wigner Approximation hinausgeht: Sie gibt alle wichtigen Charakteristika der Dynamik im Doppelmuldensystem wieder. Um die Semiklassik auf ihre Aussagefähigkeit in Bezug auf eine noch komplexere Dynamik zu untersuchen, wird zum Abschluss das Drei-Topf-System betrachtet, das zusätzlich chaotische Regionen im Phasenraum aufweist. Auch hier zeigt sich, dass die semiklassische Berücksichtigung der Phasen die Truncated Wigner Approximation in den Schatten stellt. Allerdings ergeben sich durch die Instabilität der Trajektorien für stark chaotische Regime numerische Probleme, die es in der Zukunft zu lösen gilt. / The dynamics of initially non equilibrium interacting quantum many body systems is an ongoing and interesting field of research. It is still an open question in which form relaxation occurs in such systems, and in which observables and on which timescales a possible thermalization might appear. A perfect playground for the investigations of relaxation dynamics in interacting many body schemes is provided by ultracold quantum gases, which are easily to be controlled and varied in experiments. However, a general theoretical framework for the investigation of such processes is still missing, due to the huge amount of involved degrees of freedom. One of the main theoretical tools in the field of ultracold bosonic gases represents the famous Gross-Pitaevskii equation, a field equation for the Bose-Einstein condensate wave function in terms of a mean-field approximation. However, the underlying approximation prevents the possibility to draw non-trivial conclusions about the full N-particle state, the information of which is necessary for the analysis of relaxation processes. To gain the theoretical description of the full bosonic field, the present thesis deals with the application of semiclassical methods to ultracold boson gases. Those techniques become in general exact, as long as the involved actions are large compared to Planck's constant. For many body systems it turns out that semiclassics are expected to give good results also for the condition of high particle numbers, which is precisely fulfilled in these schemes, making the semiclassical approaches promising. As an essential model system an initially out of equilibrium ultracold bosonic double-well system is investigated. This configuration provides highly interesting dynamics due to the interplay of the tunneling dynamics on the one hand and the interaction amongst the particles on the other. The special trap geometry makes exact numerical calculations in the framework of the two-mode approximation available, which serve in the following as reference data. By applying the common semiclassical WKB approximation and the reflection principle known from molecule physics, a closed analytical expression for the so-called population imbalance of the bosons in the double-well is derived, depending only on the few relevant system parameters. This mighty formula allows for the first time the quantitative investigation of the characteristic sequence consisting of oscillations, collapse and revivals in dependence on the parameters of the system. Since the semiclassical approaches succeeded for the double-well model so far the so-called Herman-Kluk propagator is adopted, to go beyond the reduced dynamics of the population imbalance. The propagator provides the possibility to treat the full N-particle state theoretically and is introduced for the most general case of a bosonic quantum field. Its application to the double-well system yields for all investigated parameter regimes very good agreement with the numerical exact results. Furthermore the outcomes are compared to the Truncated Wigner approximation, which is frequently used in the research field of ultracold bosons. This approach pictures the time evolution of a Wigner distribution, without taking into account the quantum interferences. In the present thesis it is shown that the Herman-Kluk propagation goes clearly beyond the truncated Wigner approach by considering in addition the quantum phases: The propagator is able to reproduce all of the distinctive features of the double-well dynamics. In order to test the performance of semiclassical methods in matters of even more complex systems, the ultracold bosonic triple-well model is finally considered, which exhibits unlike the double-well scheme chaotic regions in phase space. It turns out that the semiclassical propagation outplays again the truncated Wigner approximation. On the other hand the instability of the highly chaotic trajectories causes numerical problems, which have to be solved in the future.

No description available.

<p>In this work, we consider the addition of a single neutral massive vector boson to the Standard Model (SM). This boson, which we refer to as N⁰, induces dipolar transitions between electrons and muons. We obtain bounds on the strength of its coupling and its mass: from the scattering process e+e- to mu+mu-; from its contribution to muonium-antimuonium oscillations; and from its possible contribution to the rare muon decay mu- to e+e-e-. In particular, we examine the two cases where the mediator is both heavy and light compared with the scattering energies for, and place constraints on the relevant parameters based on their contributions to the cross section and the forward-backward asymmetry. For muonium-antimuonium oscillations, we consider only the case where the mediator is heavy compared to all other scales, reducing its effect to an effective contact interaction. Finally, we consider an SU(2) invariant theory from which the N⁰ interaction emerges, and find that flavour diagonal interactions also emerge, giving a tree-level path for the decay mu- to e+e-e-. We find that the heavy N⁰ is not strongly constrained by this contribution, while the light N⁰ is very strongly constrained by it. Very generally, we find that the heavy N⁰ is much less constrained than other lepton flavour violating processes, while the constraints on the light N0 vary in strength between processes.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

<p>This thesis addresses two separate naturalness issues which generically come to bear on physical theories with large extra dimensions, and so a gravity scale much lower than the Planck scale. The first is related to the observed stability of the proton, wherein we determine the relevant constraints on an additional gauge boson which conserves baryon number. Although several such proposals have been previously considered, our analysis is distinctive in its interest in lighter gauge boson masses (which naturally arise in such models), and in its focus on the dependence of constraints due to kinetic mixing effects. The second is related to the main purpose of large extra dimensions---namely, to address the smallness of the observed vacuum energy---wherein we compute the leading-order quantum corrections to the four-dimensional (4D) vacuum energy resulting from loops of extra-dimensional fields. We compute the contributions from bulk scalars (spin 0), fermions (spin 1/2), and gauge fields (spin 1) in a flux-stabilized, spheroidal extra-dimensional geometry whose rugby-ball shape is due to two codimension-2 branes---one at each pole. (We also obtain the corresponding beta functions for both bulk and brane operators.) These results are then combined to obtain the net contribution from various multiplets in the context of a particular supersymmetric extra-dimensional model that has been shown to give a vanishing result for the 4D vacuum energy at the classical level. Surprisingly, we find that supersymmetry can be preserved dynamically at one loop in the case of identical branes, without arranging any particular relationship between the brane parameters. Perturbing away from the case of identical branes is shown to give a positive 1-loop contribution to the 4D vacuum energy whose size is set by the radius of the extra dimensions.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Les mesures de sections efficaces de production di-bosons constituent une partie importante du programme de physique au Large Hadron Collider (Grand collisionneur de hadrons) au CERN. Ces analyses de physique offrent la possibilité d'explorer le secteur électrofaible du modèle standard à l'échelle du TeV et peuvent être une indication de l'existence de nouvelles particules au-delà du modèle standard. L'excellente performance du LHC dans les années 2011 et 2012 a permis de faire les mesures très compétitives. La thèse donne un aperçu complet des méthodes expérimentales utilisées dans la mesure de la section efficace de production de W⁺W⁻ dans les collisions proton-proton au √s = 7 TeV et 8 TeV. Le texte décrit l'analyse en détail, en commençant par l'introduction du cadre théorique du modèle standard et se poursuit avec une discussion détaillée des méthodes utilisées dans l'enregistrement et la reconstruction des événements de physique dans une expérience de cette ampleur. Les logiciels associés (online et offline) sont inclus dans la discussion. Les expériences sont décrites en détail avec en particulier une section détaillée sur le détecteur ATLAS. Le dernier chapitre de cette thèse présente une description détaillée de l'analyse de la production de bosons W dans les modes de désintégration leptoniques utilisant les données enregistrées par l'expérience ATLAS pendant les années 2011 et 2012 (Run I). Les analyses utilisent 4,6 fb⁻¹ de données enregistrées à √s = 7 TeV et 20,28 fb⁻¹ enregistré à 8 TeV. La section efficace mesurée expérimentalement pour la production de bosons W dans l'expérience ATLAS est plus grande que celle prédite par le modèle standard à 7 TeV et 8 TeV. La thèse se termine par la présentation des résultats de mesures différentielles de section efficace. / Measurements of di-boson production cross-sections are an important part of the physics programme at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. These physics analyses provide the opportunity to probe the electroweak sector of the Standard Model at the TeV scale and could also indicate the existence of new particles or probe beyond the Standard Model physics. The excellent performance of the LHC through years 2011 and 2012 allowed for very competitive measurements. This thesis provides a comprehensive overview of the experimental considerations and methods used in the measurement of the W⁺W⁻ production cross-section in proton-proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV and 8 TeV. The treatise covers the material in great detail, starting with the introduction of the theoretical framework of the Standard Model and follows with an extensive discussion of the methods implemented in recording and reconstructing physics events in an experiment of this magnitude. The associated online and offline software tools are included in the discussion. The relevant experiments are covered, including a very detailed section about the ATLAS detector. The final chapter of this thesis contains a detailed description of the analysis of the W-pair production in the leptonic decay channels using the datasets recorded by the ATLAS experiment during 2011 and 2012 (Run I). The analyses use 4.60 fb⁻¹ recorded at √s = 7 TeV and 20.28 fb⁻¹ recorded at 8 TeV. The experimentally measured cross section for the production of W bosons at the ATLAS experiment is consistently enhanced compared to the predictions of the Standard Model at centre-of-mass energies of 7 TeV and 8 TeV. The thesis concludes with the presentation of differential cross-section measurement results.

Cette thèse porte sur l'étude de différents aspects de la physique nucléaire depuis les basses énergies jusqu'aux énergies intermédiaires. Pour les basses énergies, où la matière nucléaire est essentiellement constituée de nucléons en interaction, la partie I traite de la fusion-fission des noyaux super-lourds, et la partie II des règles de somme associées aux interactions de type Skyrme. Pour les énergies intermédiaires, la matière nucléaire étant alors considérée comme une phase hadronique principalement constituée de pions, la partie III se focalise sur l'hydrodynamique relativiste de la matière nucléaire avec brisure spontanée de symétrie chirale. Dans la partie I, on s'intéresse à la formation puis à la désexcitation des noyaux super-lourds. On étudie donc la formation du noyau composé avec effets de mémoire. Pour la désexcitation d'un noyau super-lourd, l'existence d'un puits isomérique dans la barrière de potentiel change la dynamique de désexcitation et augmente les temps de fission. Cette dernière étude pourrait être utile à l'étude de la dynamique de la fission des actinides. Dans la partie II, les règles de somme M1 et M3 associées aux potentiels phénoménologiques de type Skyrme sont calculées à partir de leurs définitions intrinsèques. On détermine alors M1 jusqu'au niveau tensoriel et M3 avec potentiel central. Dans la partie III, pour le traitement hydrodynamique de la matière hadronique appliqué aux collisions d'ions lourds on peut, en première approximation, écarter les modifications induites par la brisure spontanée de symétrie chirale mais pas celles dues à l'aspect dissipatif. / This study focuses on different aspects of nuclear physics from low energies to intermediate ones. For the low energies, the nuclear matter is essentially constituted from interacting nucleons. Part I is on the fusion-fission of super-heavy elements, while Part II is on the Skyrme interactions-associated sum rules. In the case of the intermediate energies, where the nuclear matter is considered as being an hadronic phase mainly constituted from pions, Part III is focused on nuclear matter relativistic hydrodynamics with spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking. In Part I, the formation and the desexcitation of super-heavy nuclei are being studied. We analyzed the formation of compound nuclei including the memory effects. For super-heavy nuclei desexcitation, the existence of isomeric state within the potential barrier modifies the desexcitation dynamics and increases the fission time. This latter study could be useful for the study of the actinides fission. In Part II, the phenomenological Skyrme effective interactions- associated M1 and M3 sum rules are being calculated based on their intrinsic definitions. We identify then M1 up to the tensorial level and M3 with central potential. In Part III, as for the hadronic matter hydrodynamics being applied to heavy ions collisions, and as a first approach only, we can neglect spontaneous chiral symmetry but certainly not the dissipative impact.

Ces vingts dernières années ont vu le concept d’intrication quantique prendre une place importante dans l’étude des systèmes quantiques à N corps rencontrés par exemple en théorie de la matière condensée. L’entropie d’intrication est une mesure de l’intrication entre deux parties formant un système dans un état quantique pur. L’étude de cette entropie permet d’obtenir des informations cruciales sur les systèmes considérés. Dans ce mémoire, nous étudions l’entropie d’intrication de régions dites squelettiques, pour un réseau harmonique bidimensionnel correspondant à une version discrète de la théorie d’un champ scalaire relativiste sans masse. Une région squelettique ne possède pas de volume, en opposition à une région dite pleine. Au sein d’un réseau à deux dimensions, il s’agira d’une chaîne finie de sites. Nous montrons que le comportement de l’entropie d’intrication d’une région unidimensionnelle diffère de celui de l’entropie d’une région pleine (à deux dimensions). En particulier, nous montrons qu’il apparaît de nouveaux termes universels associés à ces nouveaux comportements pour des régions squelettiques. Notre étude est principalement menée à l’aide de calculs numériques, bien que certains résultats soient obtenus de manière semi-analytique. / In the last twenty years, the concept of entanglement entropy has taken an important place in the study of N-body quantum systems seen in condensed matter, among others. Entanglement entropy is an entanglement measure between two parts forming a system in a pure quantum state. The study of this entropy allows one to obtain crucial information about N-body quantum systems. In this master’s thesis, we will study the entanglement entropy of so-called skeletal regions, for a harmonic two-dimensional lattice corresponding to a discrete version of a massless relativistic scalar field theory. A skeletal region doesn’t possess a volume, unlike a region said to be full. In the case of a two-dimensional lattice, the skeletal region is defined by a finite chain of sites. We show that the behaviour of entanglement entropy of an unidimensional region differs from the case of a full region (which is two-dimensional). In particular, we show the appearance of new universal coefficients linked to skeletal regions. Our study consists mainly of numerical calculations, although some results are obtained in a semi-analytical manner.

Condensed matter systems undergoing phase transitions rarely allow exact solutions. The presence of disorder renders the situation  even worse but collective Monte Carlo methods and parallel algorithms allow numerical descriptions. This thesis considers classical phase transitions in disordered spin systems in general and in effective models of superfluids with disorder and novel interactions in particular. Quantum phase transitions are considered via a quantum to classical mapping. Central questions are if the presence of defects changes universal properties and what qualitative implications follow for experiments. Common to the cases considered is that the disorder maps out correlated structures. All results are obtained using large-scale Monte Carlo simulations of effective models capturing the relevant degrees of freedom at the transition. Considering a model system for superflow aided by a defect network, we find that the onset properties are significantly altered compared to the $\lambda$-transition in $^{4}$He. This has qualitative implications on expected experimental signatures in a defect supersolid scenario. For the Bose glass to superfluid quantum phase transition in 2D we determine the quantum correlation time by an anisotropic finite size scaling approach. Without a priori assumptions on critical parameters, we find the critical exponent $z=1.8 \pm 0.05$ contradicting the long standing result $z=d$. Using a 3D effective model for multi-band type-1.5 superconductors we find that these systems possibly feature a strong first order vortex-driven phase transition. Despite its short-range nature details of the interaction are shown to play an important role. Phase transitions in disordered spin models exposed to correlated defect structures obtained via rapid quenches of critical loop and spin models are investigated. On long length scales the correlations are shown to decay algebraically. The decay exponents are expressed through known critical exponents of the disorder generating models. For cases where the disorder correlations imply the existence of a new long-range-disorder fixed point we determine the critical exponents of the disordered systems via finite size scaling methods of Monte Carlo data and find good agreement with theoretical expectations. / <p>QC 20150306</p>

Inspired by graphene, I investigate the properties of several different real and artificial Dirac materials. Firstly, I consider a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice of metallic nanoparticles, each supporting localised surface plasmons, and study the quantum properties of the collective plasmons resulting from the near field dipolar interaction between the nanoparticles. I analytically investigate the dispersion, the effective Hamiltonian and the eigenstates of the collective plasmons for an arbitrary orientation of the individual dipole moments. When the polarisation points close to normal to the plane the spectrum presents Dirac cones, similar to those present in the electronic band structure of graphene. I derive the effective Dirac Hamiltonian for the collective plasmons and show that the corresponding spinor eigenstates represent chiral Dirac-like massless bosonic excitations that present similar effects to those of electrons in graphene, such as a non-trivial Berry phase and the absence of backscattering from smooth inhomogeneities. I further discuss how one can manipulate the Dirac points in the Brillouin zone and open a gap in the collective plasmon dispersion by modifying the polarisation of the localized surface plasmons, paving the way for a fully tunable plasmonic analogue of graphene. I present a phase diagram of gapless and gapped phases in the collective plasmon dispersion depending on the dipole orientation. When the inversion symmetry of the honeycomb structure is broken, the collective plasmons become gapped chiral Dirac modes with an energy-dependent Berry phase. I show that this concept can be generalised to describe many real and artificial graphene-like systems, labeling them Dirac materials with a linear gapped spectrum. I also show that biased bilayer graphene is another Dirac material with an energy dependent Berry phase, but with a parabolic gapped spectrum. I analyse the relativistic phenomenon of Klein Tunneling in both types of system. The Klein paradox is one of the most counter-intuitive results from quantum electrodynamics but it has been seen experimentally to occur in both monolayer and bilayer graphene, due to the chiral nature of the Dirac quasiparticles in these materials. The non-trivial Berry phase of pi in monolayer graphene leads to remarkable effects in transmission through potential barriers, whereas there is always zero transmission at normal incidence in unbiased bilayer graphene in the npn regime. These, and many other 2D materials have attracted attention due to their possible usefulness for the next generation of nano-electronic devices, but some of their Klein tunneling results may be a hindrance to this application. I will highlight how breaking the inversion symmetry of the system allows for results that are not possible in these system's inversion symmetrical counterparts.